The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins
by anamatics
Summary: The Carnival restarting, a new threat emerges, everything linked back to a traveler from another world. OtomeHiME crossover strange sort of ShizNat. COMPLETE. POSTMORTEM ADDED.
1. The Snake and The Wolf

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter One**

_Here is a new story, I hope you all enjoy.  
_

* * *

_Katsu Ruins, Altai-Aries Border_

The ruins were located in the northern part of Aries, closest to the border with Altai. In order to access them, one had to pass through the Demilitarized-Zone that separated Aries from Altai, as their location was one of many under near constant border disputes since the Altai government's restructuring.

They'd been discovered quite by accident after the brief snit when the Arch Duke had decided that it'd be fun to invade the tiny country of Windbloom – a young pilgrim on his way to the countryside to visit the sacred shrine that had been erected in honor of those fallen in the Twelve Kingdoms War had chanced upon them, and had promptly alerted the authorities that there were some suspicious buildings just off the road that he was quite sure had not been there before.

Because of their agreement after the war, the president of Aries gave Windbloom, and through it, Gaulderobe, the first chance to have a look at the ruins. The people gathered on the side of the road to watch as the three heavily-laden supply trucks, along with two smaller over-land vehicles from the far-off kingdom rumbled past. There was very little rejoicing, for the small country had caused far more that its fair share of trouble in recent months – people were wary of the power that the small country suddenly had, with Atari out of the picture.

Juillet Nao Zhang sat in the back of one of the supply tucks, her thick coat pulled tightly against herself against the cold wind that billowed though the open back of the truck. She was annoyed, to say the least, that she had been dragged along to this god-forsaken place to look at some old ruins with the rest of the Five Columns of Gaulderobe. It was just her luck to get dragged into this sort of thing; especially when she could be doing something far more interesting – like hunting down bad guys or working out a better way to finance her gang, now that she was a person of some importance.

Shifting her position ever so slightly, she glanced at the young woman beside her, who was quietly absorbed in what looked to be a trashy romance novel – the like of which she had seen many times during her time at school, although never in the presence of this particular person. The woman's russet-colored eyes turned towards her, and Nao felt herself look away before the older woman caught her staring. She'd been brought up to be polite, and in her country, staring was about as rude as it came. On top of the fact that the woman next to Nao radiated such raw power than Nao was terrified to cross her.

"Is there something wrong, Nao?" The woman's formal language, even outside of the presence of those with which the language would be needed, was infuriating to Nao, just like there were so many things about this woman that she respected and admired – this was perhaps her worst trait.

Nao shook her head, and turned her attention again away from the woman, who was now speaking quietly to the only one of them who seemed to be out of place – Natsuki Kruger, principal of Gaulderobe and the second column of the Otome. The woman was wearing her usual scowl and the flowing blue coat that identified her both as a Column and as nobility. Glancing down at her own rather sack-like Column dress, Nao wanted to know why it was that Kruger was allowed to wear pants. She'd asked several times to make modifications to her column uniform, citing that it was outdated and cumbersome.

Her requests, so far, had fallen on deaf ears.

The trucks rumbled to a stop, and Sara Galagher leaned out of the back to see if they'd reached their destination. Her eyes widened and she adjusted the small pair of glasses that she always wore perched precariously on her nose. "We're here." Her voice was grim, although Nao could not think of a reason for it to be. This was just another routine 'go and look at the old rocks, see if there's anything left from before the Twelve Kingdoms War and be on your way, thank you very much' mission. Frankly, it was a nuisance.

The woman next to Nao rose, and Nao found herself again the victim of the appraising smile of one Shizuru Viola. After a moment of being stared at, she demanded, perhaps rudely, "What?"

"Nothing," Viola absently waved her hand as she stepped out of the back of the truck, helped down by Kruger, who was forever the gentleman when it came to anything involving that woman. Nao was not a romantic at heart; she understood what love did to people and never really wanted to experience it. Sex was something else; however, it was something she could not experience until she stepped down from her current position.

Kruger and Viola were perhaps the most in-love people that Nao had ever interacted with. It was sometimes sickening to watch them interact, but it also filled Nao with a want to find out what it was that they shared together and claim that for her own.

Nao blinked and shrugged, deciding that leaving the two lovebirds to their own devices was the most healthy way to go – for it did not result in death glares and amused smiles hidden behind elegant hands. After having spent as much time with the principal of Gaulderobe on their spontaneous road trip across much of the continent, Nao had gotten to know the woman a little better; and, embarrassing details aside, she was forced to admit that working with these women was a great privilege. They were good Otome, good people and good at their jobs. Nao just wished everyone could be like that in the world of diplomats and government officials in which she suddenly found herself employed.

Clambering out of the back of the truck, Nao let out a low whistle, looking at the large concrete wall in front of her. It was impressive, and intricately constructed so as to prevent any chance of intrusion. If she didn't know better, Nao was willing to bet that this was a fort of some sort. The wall clearly suggested the wear of ages, with small bits of moss growing out of the cracks were the concrete slabs had been put together – where the mortar had fallen out.

"Oi!" Nao grimaced, bracing herself for what she and the other students had once called 'the small-minded dictator'. Haruka Armitage was trotting towards them, trailed by a smaller woman, with messy hair and classes. Nao recognized her as the president of Aries, one Yukino Chrysant. "It took you long enough to get here, did you get lost?" She stood before them, even though their rank was higher, and looked at them appraisingly like equals.

Next to Nao, Shizuru smiled and laughed, "No, but the roads were considerably worse than they were the last time I went on a trip, Haruka."

Nao closed her eyes, resigning herself to the fact that the volcano was liable to erupt at any minute. Much like two younger Coral-Grade students that Nao knew quite well, Armitage and Viola had been roommates while at Gaulderobe, and their rivalry, although quieted with age and maturity, was still ever present when they were within each other's presence.

"Why don't we have a look inside?" Sara asked, steering Haruka back towards the dark entrance to the ruins, some thirty paces from them. As they passed her, Sara winked at Nao, before continuing to Haruka, "Really, Haruka-onee-sama, you shouldn't let her provoke you."

Nao sometimes wondered about Sara, and about what would happen if Sara ever got to have her way with General Armitage the way she seemed to want so badly.

Kruger smiled, "She's already had her laugh at our expense for this year," she admitted, and Nao flushed, for that had been completely and totally her fault.

"It got us a ride, didn't it?" Nao asked over her shoulder, heading after Sara and the still raging Armitage.

-

"President Chrysant," Kruger called, directing her flashlight at a particular section of wall, far into the meandering tunnels of the ruins that seemed to have no end. "What do you think of this?"

The president adjusted her glasses, staring intently at the strange hook-like symbol that had been carved into the wall. "I don't know," she admitted, moving to get a better look.

"It's definitely a symbol." Viola said, reaching out to touch the painting, wondering if there was more to the image that was just being covered by the dirt on the wall. From her place against the far wall, Nao could clearly see that there were symbols carved around it. From here, she could make out what looked like a pair of eyes and the rough sketch of a snake and a wolf intertwined together. A spider, what looked to be some sort of plant, a dog, a crow - there were twelve images in all. Nao wondered if the number had significance, for everything in their world seemed to work better in groups of twelve, and there had always been twelve kingdoms.

As she watched, wanting to voice her opinion to someone, and turning to find that Maya, the silent fifth Column had appeared behind her, Nao realized that there was something nostalgic about this place - a feeling of deja-vu that she could not shake, "They're symbols around the main mark." Her tone was businesslike, "I think that there's a dog – perhaps a wolf, and a snake, I can't make out the others clearly." Nao blew air out of the corner of her mouth, annoyance clearly written on her face. _She took my idea…_

What happened next was anyone's guess, as Shizuru raised her hand to brush the image of the snake intertwined with the wolf, the hook-like symbol began to glow red – like the eerie star that they'd seen on the night that the two corals-turned-otome had fought their epic battle.

"Shizuru!" The principal's tone was frightened, and as she lunged forward to grab the taller woman's hand and pull her away from the wall, the light emitting from hook-like symbol intensified and Nao found herself unable to see, blinded by the eerie red light now being emitted from the symbol on the wall.

A moment later, however, the blinding red light had subsided and Nao lowered her hand from her eyes, expecting to see Sara or even Maya looking at her funny for cowering in the way that she had. Seeing no eyes on herself, Nao glanced around the cavern, her flashlight's bulb flickering ominously.

"Where's Shizuru?" Kruger demanded, pushing herself away from the wall that she'd just crashed into and spinning to face the rest of them. Her eyes, to Nao, seemed wild – frightened and panicked. Nao gulped as she felt the bile rise in her throat – this was bad. They needed to get out of this place, fast.

A faint moan, from far deeper inside the cavern drew her attention away from the principal. Pulling out the small knife that she'd been given when she had finally had the formal ceremony to become a Column of Gaulderobe, Nao advanced as silently as all her days of sneaking up on unsuspecting men with her gang could allow.

Under yet another picture of that strange cluster of snakes, and clutching what looked to be a pillow, lay the missing woman in question. Nao blinked to make sure that her vision was clear – for this Shizuru looked quite different from the one that had vanished just moments ago.

On top of the fact that this girl didn't seem to be wearing anything that would appear out of place in the pictures that Nao had seen of Zaiping. Kneeling down and shoving her knife out of sight, she poked the girl at her feet. "Viola-san?" She asked tentatively.

The woman's eyes opened and Nao could have sworn that she had just stepped into her nightmares – for they were blank, emotionless and devoid of life. "Ah, Yuuki-san, is there something I can do for you?"


	2. Vanished With a Twist

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Two  
**

* * *

_Katsu Ruins, Altai-Aries Border_

This new Viola, Nao was forced to admit, put her into the same mood she had been in for most of the war the previous year. Nao pulled back into the darkness once again to re-evaluate the value of actually speaking to this woman. She was terrified of the deadly calm of that voice, and the fear was enough to make her want to stay as far removed from this young woman's presence as humanly possible. Still, it seemed that the woman was unhurt, if not in perfect health, it would be rude to not take advantage of the situation. She stood, and offered her hand to the woman, "My name is Juliet, I don't know anyone by the name of Yuuki."

Her hand was cold within Nao's, sickly even. In the small pool of light that her flashlight provided, Nao could see that the previous blankness in the girl's eyes seemed to have vanished as she glanced around the cavern, her face a picture of calm. Nao trailed her flashlight after the girl's gaze, watching with some curiosity as her gaze finally rested on the intertwined snake and wolf on that wall that she had appeared under. The reaction was hard to gage, for it was subtle, a refocusing of the eyes and a slight twitch of the mouth. Nao caught the twitch of the mouth, and added, as if in passing, "Look familiar?"

The woman turned to stare at her, the flashlight catching her face full on in the light for the first time, "Yes, very." This was not the Shizuru Viola that she knew, that was for sure - Nao couldn't gage exactly how much younger this one looked, but she looked to be closer to her own nineteen years than the twenty-something woman that had vanished just moments before. Her accent was off too, Nao decided as she ran her flashlight over the wall once more, looking for any clue as to where _their_ Viola might have got to.

There were characters that Nao could not read etched into the wall, a flowing script that did little to ease the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of Nao's stomach.

"Oi! Kruger!" Nao turned to shout back up the cavern, her words reverberating throughout the chamber, echoing on the painted walls. She grabbed the girl's elbow, and pulled her back towards the entrance and the rest of their little ensemble.

The girl seemed to just let herself be dragged, for she followed, clutching her pillow and continued to look around - taking in the ruins just as Viola had just moments before. Nao's eyes flicked over the pictures on the walls - there was no technology here, that was for sure, and Armitage was more than likely to yell at them all for making her come 'out all this way' to get nothing. Nao sighed, and stopped in front of Gaulderobe's principal.

Natsuki Kruger had seen many things in her time that suggested to her that there was some sort of bizarre higher power in this world, but this was the first time that she'd seen something that truly made her feel as though she'd seen a ghost. Looking at this girl, clad in what appeared to be traditional Zaiping garb, she was filled with memories of a time long since passed - for this girl looked just like her Shizuru had, back when they were still in school.

"Juliet, that is not Viola-san," President Chrysant's voice broke the principal's appraising silence, and Nao was forced to smile as she watched Armitage's head jerk around as though it was about to be cut off. From previous experience, Nao could guess that the woman was having difficulty gauging exactly what was going on, for she looked as though she was about ready to laugh and scream at the same time.

Nao shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, 'who the fuck knows who she is' and waited for Kruger's reaction, for she knew that it would be perhaps one of the most priceless things that she would see this year.

The girl spoke, her voice thickly accented - more so than before, "Natsuki…" Nao's eyebrows went up, for it seemed that she was not the only one that this girl knew based solely on appearance. Her voice was strange, Nao could not place the accent - but it was the same sort of accent that Viola spoke in from time to time, when she wasn't playing attention - one that suggest class and a wealthy upbringing. This new Viola's, however, was more harsh, as if it could be a crude dialect as well as a formal one, should the speaker chose.

The bemused smile on Nao's face grew as she watched her former headmaster's right eye begin to twitch, "Who are you and what have you done with my Shizuru?" She took this new girl by the shoulders and led her out of the cave, muttering something about having the 'authorities' look into this 'invasion of the body-snatchers.'

Nao giggled, for that was one way of handling it, as she added to Maya, "Doesn't she realize that she is the authority on this subject?"

The older woman smiled and nodded, as they all trouped after their still raging principal.

-

Natsuki Kruger was not amused; for this girl was looking at her in a mixture of admiration and adoration that she could have sworn she had weaned her Shizuru off years ago. After a good ten minutes of simply being stared at, she finally sat down next to the girl, and asked her straight out, "Do you know where you are?"

The girl shook her head, glancing around the back of the truck, "Why are you so much bigger?" She asked, perhaps out of confusion, perhaps out of spite - for Natsuki's question had been equally stupid.

"I could ask you why you look like you did ten years ago, but I'll resign myself to the fact that there's most likely a complicated explanation involving these ruins, the Harmonium, and the Twelve Kingdoms War." She leaned back against the canvas that served as a makeshift covering for the open back of their truck, placing a finger on her forehead. "Look, something happened in those ruins, I'm not exactly sure what, but it made you appear from where ever it is that you're from and made our Shizuru disappear."

The girl appeared thoughtful for a moment, before asking, "Your name is Natsuki, right?"

Kruger nodded, closing her eyes and wondering where it was that her Shizuru had gotten to, leaving her with this rather broken child who spoke oddly. "Natsuki Kurger, second column of Gaulderobe, current headmaster of said establishment, it's nice to make your acquaintance." She opened her eyes and smiled her wiry smile - watching as the look of fondness and recognition crept over the girl's unusually blank face. It was clear that this girl knew her, in some form, for the fond smile that flickered across her features was one that Natsuki had seen many times before, on the face of her love.

"My name if Fujino Shizuru," The girl spoke at length, giving a half bow that Natsuki realized, after a moment, was a gesture of thanks in Zaiping. "It's nice to meet you, Natsuki."

"Likewise," Natsuki stood up, and moved to the back to the truck, sticking her head out, "Oi! Nao!" She could see the red-head visibly flinch as she made her way over to the truck.

"What is it?" She looked curiously at the girl inside of the truck.

Natsuki jumped out of the back, landing next to Nao and steering her away from the girl inside's earshot. "I want you to fly back to Wind and take her with you." She spoke tersely, for she was afraid that there was something very wrong with this arrangement, "Get her to Youko - I want her checked out; look for everything, I don't think that she's just some illusion from the past - because she doesn't seem to know anything about me, or where we are."

"Are you saying that Viola-san when she was younger knew these sorts of things?" Nao asked, annoyed that she had to fly - she hated flying, "Because she called me 'Yuuki'…" Nao trailed off as she caught the direction of Natsuki's gaze. "Are you worried that she might try something?"

Natsuki shook her head, "I just want to see if she's the same person, and how we can get the real one back. Take her and head back to Wind, we'll get President Chrysant's people working on a way to get her back to where ever she belongs." She tuned on her heel and headed back to the back of the truck.

"Miss Fujino, this is Juliet Nao Zhang, a former student of mine - she's agreed to take you back to our city and look after you," Nao coughed discretely, earning herself a glare from Kruger, "until we can figure out what happened here."

"Ara, so you are Nao-san after all!" There was something in Fujino's voice that made Nao worried, an underlying malice that concerned her greatly, but it vanished almost as soon as it came into existence.

Nao blinked, they had a long flight with which Nao could set many things straight with this woman - for there seemed to be much that this woman was guessing about her, and it annoyed her. "Yes." She nodded, letting the woman think that she'd won.

Kruger nodded, patting Nao on the shoulder, "Then I shall see you tomorrow morning, Nao, Miss Fujino." She turned and headed back to the small cluster of people that surrounded the entrance to the cave.

Nao sighed, before turning to face this Fujino woman, "Sheesh, she just expects me to baby sit without a fight?" Kruger was going to get it this time, and it would be far worse that what had happened to them on that lonely road in Aries, while hitch-hiking. She pulled off her coat and handed it to the girl in front of her, who took it without question, though her eyes narrowed as she pulled it over her shoulders.

"What do I need this for?" She asked, zipping up the jacket and looking rather foolish with her … Nao wasn't sure what to call it, robe or something of the like; sticking out from under bottom and through the sleeves at odd angles.

"We're flying, it's cold." Nao explained, touching her ear briefly to re-establish the connection between herself and her gem. Looking at this younger version of Shizuru, she smirked, and whispered, "Materialize."

Her robe fell into place and Nao could see the amazement on the girl's face. Nao couldn't help but feel as though she'd achieved something important today, even if it was only shocking the impenetrable force of this Fujino woman. Grinning wickedly, she offered a gloved hand to the girl, "Shall we fly?"

The girl appeared hesitant; her right hand clenching and unclenching - in her heightened state, Nao could see the flickering of yellow power around her. She seemed to think better of doing whatever if was that she was powering up to do, and took Nao's hand, "Let's."


	3. Confirmed Difference

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Three **

* * *

_Aries Airspace_

Suddenly finding herself in a strange world had been enough of a shock for Fujino Shizuru, but flying at two thousand feet with someone who looked and acted a great deal one of Shizuru's most sworn enemies, on of the few that had managed to evade her on numerous occasions. This girl, this Juliet, was the only thing keeping her alive right now, dangling far over the countryside with only a vice-like grip around her waist preventing her from falling to her death. Like it or not, Juliet looked quite a good deal like one Yuuki Nao – whom Shizuru was still in the middle of a long-standing and ongoing feud with. Shizuru frowned, realizing that perhaps 'feud' was not the best title to assign to the conflict she had with Yuuki Nao.

Fujino Shizuru was going to kill her, the only question was where and when.

Needless to say, the situation that Shizuru found herself in, trusting a person she hardly knew was awkward.

After being hoisted up by the waist into the air, Shizuru found herself in a position that she could not beging to describe in words. Juliet was flying of her own accord, no wings or giant supernatural beings assiting her. Shizuru was impressed at the display of power, and knew that it was a sherwed way of asserting dominance over her. She did not like that, but as she fidgeted and tried to move to a more comfortable position, where she could perhaps attack if threatened, Shizuru was informed that she was not to move under any circumstances – as it was difficult for Juliet to navigate with a person in her arms.

Juliet accelerated and Shizuru suddenly found herself traveling at a good seventy or eighty miles an hour.

"Juliet…" She started, wanting to ask some clarifying questions. She was astonished and rather annoyed that the older version of Natsuki had sent her off without so much as a second glance, spiriting her away from that shrine to the carnival, to the event that ruled Shizuru's life at the moment. Taking away her ability to look for answers on her own.

She did not understand what she was doing here, or how she had come to be in this world. It looked geographically very different from the world that Shizuru remembered – with far more desert and not enough ocean. Back in her world, Shizuru assumed that Natsuki would have noticed her absence, when she woke up in the alien environment of the tea house that Shizuru had spirited her away to, to recover from the brutal beating that she'd received from the hands of Yuuki Nao had done to her.

She wondered if Natsuki would even remember the horrible thigns that had been said the night before – if Natsuki would remember when she'd done to her.

Juliet's head peered down at her, a lazy smile crossing her face, "Please, I prefer Nao, Juliet is a foreign name that my mother gave me to have better social standing, I hate it."

Shizuru's eyes narrowed, but she remained stoically silent, pondering the best way to ask this question without sounding like the total alien to this world that she was. She chewed her lip thoughtfully as she tried not to shift her weight too much. It was freezing at this altitude. "Nao-san, then," She started, the fake smile already slipping into place. She had to shout over the wind roaring in their ears, but the question clearly was heard. "How exactly are we able to fly like this?"

Nao was silent and Shizuru again felt the pull to force this woman to the ground and beat the answer out of her. But the girl's answer came in the form of a bet, a dare even. "A question for a question, eh, Miss Fujino?" Something that Shizuru could not back down from even if she tried.

"Come again?" Shizuru wondered if it was the wind, or if she had heard incorrectly. She was stalling for time, and feigning innocence was one of the oldest tricks in the book.

"You ask me a question. I answer. I ask you a question, you answer. No lies." Nao raised her free hand, as if shrugging, "Perfectly economical, plus I might learn something I can use later."

Shizuru smiled, for that had been the most Yuuki-like thing that this 'Juliet-who-preferred-Nao' character had done all day. "I believe it's your turn to answer the question, then, Nao-san."

"We can fly because the nanomachines that are implanted in our bodies work in conjunction with the robe. As long as we go through puberty with the nanomachines in our bodies, they will grow and adapt to what we need them to do. Basically they work within your bloodstream to make your body lighter, or at least that's what I think – as I never really paid that much attention in class. It does, however, take a lot of skill to use them. It's considered to be the calling card of being an Otome." Nao explained, and then looked as though she was mulling over what question she would like answered. Shizuru wondered what awful detail of her life she'd have to divulge or risk losing her honor. "You seem to know Gakuenchou, where'd you meet her?"

Shizuru blinked, but then smiled that same fake smile she'd smiled before – thinking of Natsuki made Shizuru feel disgusted with herself. She'd done awful things, murderous, traitorous things to Natsuki; and this, Shizuru was farily sure, was to be her punishment. "I do not think that I know your 'Gakuenchou' as you put it, but rather, I know someone who looks - and acts - quite a bit like her."

Nao's brow furrowed, but she said nothing, waiting for the next question. Shizuru gulped quietly as they speed up, and watched as Nao stared at the ground – as if she was also trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and the ruined building that Shizuru had appeared in. The strain was evident on her face and Shizuru wondered if she'd ever flown while carrying someone before, especially over such a long period of time.

-

_Gaulderobe Basement, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom _

Youko Helene was used to getting strange cases, it came with the territory of working within Gaulderobe. Despite this the story that Juliet Nao Zhang was now weaving was perhaps one of the most ludacris stories that Youko had ever heard in her life. She'd known in the past that Nao had had problems with honesty, but this was beyond even that. "Nao, you know that even with your story, there are just too many discrepancies in the fact - this cannot be Shizuru Viola."

Nao closed her eyes, as if trying not to get annoyed. It was hard to take this, with all the information that she'd managed to provide Youko with should have been enough to at least give them some sort of idea what they were dealing with. Instead, Youko had not found any traces of nanomachines that grated the Otome their power – she had found, if anything, a perfectly normal girl with a bit of a sprain on her left ankle.

Youko bit her thumbnail, and kicked the door to her office closed, so that their patient had no way of hearing them. She dimmed the lights, and flicked on the backlight on her x-ray viewer, pointing to several things that Nao herself would not have been able to see on her own. "Look here." She pointed to the girl's wrist bones, a stark white against the black of the surrounding area. "These are the early signs of carpel-tunnel symdrome, which you know is a weakening of the joints due to overstress. I'd imagine that this girl is not a musician or an artist, for both of them develop this problem in their late teenage years if they have been playing for a while."

Nao shrugged, but said nothing, for she could think of nothing to add, Fujino had not told her anything that would suggest that she played an instrument. Suddenly it hit her, and she asked, "What about if she were quite proficient in using some sort of staff or glaive to fight, would that cause the problem?" In the ruins, there had been other drawnings, away from the main set, and one depicted a cluster of stakes and a whip-like staff that, from the looks of the drawing, could extend or retract, depending on the whim of the person using it.

Youko frowned, "I suppose that if she'd been using it for a while, it'd have the same effect, but I'm not really a doctor – just a scientist." She pulled up another x-ray, pointing at the area around the ankle, "It looks like she received a bad sprain sometime in the past couple of weeks – but didn't treat it right away. Viola, however," Reaching into a file inside the drawer of her desk and pulling out another x-ray, "does not have the same signs." She pointed at the clear discrepancies between the two images.

"So you're saying that these are two completely different people – like from different dimensions or something – and Fujino just looks a lot like Viola?" Nao asked, mentally adding, _and speaks like her, and is terrifying like her_.

"I would say yes, but this Fujino greatly resembles, if not is a carbon copy, of Viola back when she was still at Gaulderobe, minus, of course, the nanomachines." Youko pulled out her clipboard with her notes. "She speaks with an untraceable accent and dresses as though she hails from Zipang, not Windbloom – as Viola does." Flipping the page, she showed Nao a sketch of the hook-like symbol that she had seen on wall of the cave back at the ruins. "This was on her chest, just under her left breast – like a tattoo, only more faded. I'd have to confirm it with the Gakuenchou, but I'm pretty sure that Viola has no such mark on her."

Nao flushed, for she knew as well as Youko that Kruger would know better than anyone else every curve of Shizuru Viola's body. Heck, even on their trip across three countries looking for aid for Windbloom, the woman had remained faithful to the Graceful Amethyst – the dedication, Nao had to admit, was rather sickening. And yet, when they finally were granted their reunion on the steps of Gaulderobe, there was no touch, no contact, no kiss – it was like they had never been apart. "Well, did you ask Fujino where the mark came from?"

Youko nodded, "She said it was a birthmark and that she'd rather not talk about it." She pulled the door open, and headed back into the main room of her quarters, where Fujino Shizuru was sitting on the bed, her face a picture of calm that Nao would not associate with being pulled through all matters of hell to wind up in their strange world. Youko smiled at the girl, "Fujino-san, I'm going to loan you some clothes – for you are rather conspicuous in your own, and Juliet is going to take you up to Gakuenchou's quarters – where you can spend the night."

Fujino nodded, and looked at Nao, whose face had contorted into a look of annoyance as soon as she realized that she was going to have to spend even more of her day off babysitting.

Nao glared at Youko's back as the woman rummaged around in her closet, "I did not agree to this."

Youko's voice was muffled, "You don't need to, I just need you to take her up to Natsuki's place and get her settled because she can't stay here – she looks too much like Viola for that."

Nao hated to admit that she was right, but as Fujino changed into the white cotton shirt and khaki pants that Youko had managed to find for her – she realized something, "Does Kruger have a guestroom?"

"I'm sure that the couch will work fine for now." Youko smiled, "Besides, Kruger will most likely be in Aries for some time, trying to figure out what is going on."


	4. Disguise and Anguish

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Four**

_I'm sorry for the delay between updates, I graduate from high school in a week and it's hard to find time to update._**  
**

* * *

_The Offices of Doctor Youko Helene, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Juliet Nao Zhang was not accustomed to having her already far-too-scare free evenings taken up by her duties as one of the columns of Gaulderobe. The school was a walking disaster, with so many little bits of business that demanded attention it made Nao's head spin. She usually left the running of the school to Kruger and Miss Maria, both of whom were far more adept at controlling that many people with their mere presence. Kruger and Viola were most likely quite used to being kept up for long hours keeping an eye on the less-desirables of the world. However, with Kruger and Aries for the next indeterminate amount of time and Viola vanished, Nao found that it fell onto her shoulders to keep the school running.

She reasoned that it was because she was the person with the most superiority, that made the younger students and lesser-beings of the world actively seek her out for guidance and assistance. Nao was fully ready to jump out of Doctor Helene's office window to avoid having to walk through the school, when Fujino opened the door to the hallway and poked her head out.

"Wait, you idiot!" Nao shouted, pulling the sandy-haired girl back into the room. Fujino simply twisted out of her grip and closed the door behind her, as if nothing had happened. Nao could see the deathly calm set in again behind Fujino's dead eyes and she shivered despite the heat of the scientist's office.

"Don't touch me." Fujino said, and Nao could tell by her tone that she meant it. Nao stuck her hands up in the air and shrugged with an exaggerated gesture.

"Whatever you say, Fujino." She gave Doctor Helene a pointed look and the woman made a note in the chart that was still on her lap. No doubt the fact that the girl was so testy around Nao's person would make it into the Gakuenchou's brief, should Kruger ever return from Aries. "Look. You might not know it, but the woman you look so much like, Shizuru Viola, is quite well-known around here. She works here, you see. We need to make you look different before we can waltz through the place as if we own it."

Fujino stared at Nao for a moment, and then glanced over at Doctor Helene, as if questioning this to be true.

"Yes, Viola's one of the Five Columns of Gaulderobe and a well-respected teacher here." Nao noticed that the doctor's tone was musing, as if she was trying to figure out how to best go about disguising the younger-Shizuru. "Perhaps if we were to put your hair back and give you a pair of glasses – yes, that would work."

Nao watched as the doctor stood and pulled a hair clip out of one of her desk drawers, tossing it carelessly at Fujino, who caught it with ease, before pulling open another drawer, and producing a pair of glasses. "I wear these when I go up to the palace sometimes – the people down in archives resent the fact that my eyesight hasn't gone yet – they're just glass." She tapped them with her fingernail to demonstrate before handing them to Fujino, who took them and slipped them on.

She looked completely different with them on, more refined and educated. Nao inhaled quietly before moving over to the door, "Sorry, but now I think I don't have to run the risk of explaining why 'Shizuru-onee-sama' has suddenly become ten years younger."

"Ara… always looking out for yourself, aren't you, Nao?" Fujino asked quietly.

Nao did not dignify that comment with an answer. As soon as she and Fujino stepped out into the hallway, just beyond Doctor Helene's office, they were approached – no assaulted, by two lost looking Corals who needed help on their class work.

Amazingly, to Nao, the disguise worked and the girls did not seem to realize that Fujino was even present. Nao was just about to comment to Fujino that the disguise was working quite well, when the smaller of the two Corals practically shouted, "Nao-onee-sama, you have to help us with this!" Her eyes were pleading, and Nao found it hard to resist, but a sharp pull on her elbow jerked her back into reality. Fujino's eyes were on her, her hand on her elbow – looking at her expectantly, as if daring Nao to remove herself from the situation and get the two of them away from the students.

"Perhaps you two could go and find Irina Woods…" She trailed, off, looping Fujino's arm around her waist, feeling the girl flinch under her touch, "I'm rather busy right now." She would have, had she not been rather terrified to the consequences, made the show a little more convincing.

The girl's cheeks flushed, and they muttered apologies before running away hurriedly. Nao watched them go, a grin like the cheshire-cat plastered onto her face. It was so easy to get rid of these girls; the young ones were always frightened of her – for after all, she was supposedly the most intimidating of the Five Columns. She had _no_ idea where her reputation had come from, considering the conflict with Altai had cast her as much of the hero as the next person.

Perhaps it was because Nao was not afraid to stand up to Kruger. Yes, that could be it.

"Ara, Nao-san, it seems as though your attention is needed elsewhere." Fujino's smile was rather wicked-looking, as though she was trying to see the comic value of the situation and only managing to take some form of pleasure in the fact that Nao had to resort to sexual matters to ward off the unwanted attentions of the younglings. Nao had been right, it seemed, to assume that whatever presence her body and name had in Fujino's world – that she and the sandy-haired girl did not get along. Fujino trailed a finger along Nao's lips and stepped away from Nao in a strange half-step that managed to completely detangle her from Nao's grasp, she added, "Perhaps, if you give me directions, I can find Kruger-san's house on my own, and you can go back to entertaining your lady friends."

Nao blinked. Once, and then again for good measure, before she grabbed Fujino roughly by the arm and dragged her back towards the exit of the building, some three floors and seventy students down. This would not be pretty. Fujino, shockingly did not protest as before, but allowed herself to be pulled through the hallways and out of the building without so much as a question asked.

_Perhaps,_ Nao mused, _she just needs a forceful hand, as she hasn't got any will-power at all._

-

_Aries__Capital__Building_ _Aries__Republic_

Natsuki Kruger leaned against the wall of President Chrysant's office, brooding. Her coat was covered in dust and her face was besmered with mud, but she could have cared less for her appearance at that particular moment, despite the fact that she was standing in the office of the Aries head of state. Her mind was plagued with thoughts of the older woman upon whom she had come to rely so much upon as both a companion and a lover – Natsuki felt empty without her.

Shizuru was gone, she had vanished through what President Chrysant's people had determined to be a dimensional shift, much akin to the one that the Black Valley used to move it's location from place to place. It was too early to tell if the shifts were at all predictable, or what had triggered them. Natsuki prayed that they were, and that they could figure out how to return Shizuru to their world before things got too out of hand.

"You should not be so emotional." Sara Gallagher walked into the room, a frown on her face and her glasses firmly in place, pinching her nostrils together in a way that managed to make her look more severe than Miss Maria. She looked as harassed as Natsuki felt, but she was still trying to act as though nothing was wrong - to put on a brave face for President Chrysant and her staff.

Natsuki's smile was emotionless as she turned away from Sara to stare out of the window, "I would not expect you to understand." This was not true, and she knew it well, for Sara was perhaps the most compassionate of the five of them. And yet still, Natsuki felt as though she had to play the wounded lover's part. She supposed that it was because she was so scared; terrified that she might have lost Shizuru forever. Natsuki just hoped that this would get the answers they needed, even though she had the sinking suspicion that panicking would only make things worse.

Sara lay a hand on her shoulder, their difference in height was almost comical to Natsuki, it wasn't the same. Nothing would be right again until she got Shizuru back. Fighting the tears that she knew would come if she though about it too much, she turned and smiled weakly at Sara, "I just want her back," She sighed, as Sara steered her to sit down in the chair behind the elegant, redwood desk, "She's a part of me, and now that's she's gone to a place that isn't even this world, I feel as though something's missing in my life. I feel incomplete…" Natsuki trailed off, searching for the worlds that would not come.

"But she's not here." President Chrysant had finally emerged from the emergency meeting of the executive office that she fronted on the Ruins. She stood in the doorway, flanked by her Public Relations manager and Haruka Armitage, looking, if anything, about ready to skin the smaller PR woman alive. "And," President Chrysant moved to perch on the side of her desk, for Natsuki was occupying her chair, "there are some slightly more pressing matters to attend to. A Column of Gaulderobe going missing within my country - if it gets out; could be interpreted as a sign of hostility towards Windbloom and its allies." She looked at Haruka out of the corner of her eyes, but the woman 'hmphed' and turned away from her - Natsuki could see that the general did not agree with the way that President Chrysant was handling the potential political conflict. Shizuru and Haruka may have been rivals while at school, but it was clear to everyone present that Haruka cared deeply for the missing sandy-haired woman, and would do almost as much as Natsuki would for a chance to get her back.

Natsuki sighed, and pushed herself away from the desk, her chair scraping against the wooden floor. "It will not get out then. I want that place excavated and monitored at all times - and Sara?"

The blond woman looked up at her name being called, her hand on her glasses, as if she was looking to clean them, "Yes, Gakuenchou?"

"I want you to go to the Black Valley - I need you to bring Mai and that friend of hers back with you." Natsuki's eyes were grim, "If anyone knows anything about this, Mikoto will."

-

_The Fourth Column's Quarters, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Nao had stopped at her own quarters to pick up some of her university books. She'd wanted to find something for Fujino to read, but it was difficult, given that she could not seem to read the languages used in Aries, Windbloom or Altai. The Columns of Gaulderobe all had rooms at the school – Nao's were just down the hall from Kruger's office – but most of the time, the rooms stood empty. The Columns lived elsewhere for most of the year, coming and going on Gaulderobe business whenever it was needed. All of the Columns were required to keep Gaulderobe as their base of operations, Kruger and Viola actually lived at the school, but Sara, Maya, and now Nao kept rooms - for the lifestyle of an active Column was far too mobile to keep more than a small room for the brief periods of free time they were allowed.

As soon as Nao finished up her education at the Windbloom Public University, she too would be living that lifestyle - as a globetrotter, traveling around, looking for technology and playing the role of international peacekeeper. She was not exactly looking forward to it, but Gaulderobe paid for her education and her current expenses and didn't seem to mind the long hours at night when she slipped away to become a truly different Nao.

The Nao of the Stripe Gang, the protector of the entire east end of the capital city - would not be going out tonight. That Nao would be put up on a shelf until such a time that Kruger returned to Gaulderobe and Nao was not babysitting some strange girl who looked and acted just like Kruger's lover. She smiled ruefully as she pulled books off the shelf, asking Fujino what she wanted to read.

"Do you have anything…" The girl paused, thinking for a moment, _with romance, adventure, and pirates…_ "Do you have a good mystery?" Nao had always liked those sorts of stories, and, although she rarely indulged herself in a decent novel, Nao was far too occupied with her reading for school to find time to read for herself these days.

Nao paused, her fingers resting on a worn copy of Sir Arthur Cannon Doyle's stories about the master sleuth Sherlock Holmes - quite unsure how it had ended up in her bookshelf - for she had never seen the book before in her life. _Must have been the previous number four's_, she mused, pulling out the book and blowing the dust off of the spine. "Sherlock Holmes alright?"

Fujino took the book and contemplated its worn cover. She seemed, if anything, to have a certain distaste of the oldness of it. She sniffed, and Nao felt her brow twitch, "It's fine," She said, upon opening the book to inspect the table of contents, "But my English is not as good as it could be - it shall prove a challenge."

_At least the book wasn't written in that strange language they use in Zaping, _that_ would really throw her off. _Nao smiled, throwing her bag over her shoulder and pulling her hat down over her ears. She had changed out of her Column uniform into something more favorable, an old pair of black pants and a faded t-shirt featuring one of Aries' more well known bands. She hated the Column uniform, as the bag-like garment was not flattering at the best of circumstances and cumbersome at the worst.

Wordlessly, Fujino followed her up the hill and onto the hidden path that lead towards Kruger's place of residence.


	5. Night Flight

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Five**

* * *

_Aries_ _Capital_ _Building__, Executive Wing, _ _Aries_ _Republic_

President Yukino Chrysant surveyed the group before her in a mixture of fear and pity. Together, they were some of the most powerful women in the world, and she had never seen them look so powerless. Raising a finger, she adjusted the glasses that had been slipping down her nose, wet with sweat from the late afternoon sun that streamed through the large bay windows of her office. She had so many nervous habits, made forever worse by the fact that Aries and Windbloom had always been on the best of diplomatic terms and the disappearance of a Column of Gaulderobe within the borders of the country was enough to change that relationship forever. Coughing slightly, her vision now corrected once again, she turned in her chair to face the one person that this conflict really affected, "Gakuenchou?" She asked, pulling the woman out of her reverie and alerting her, again, to her surroundings.

"What is it?" Natsuki Kruger asked weariness evident in her voice. She shifted uncomfortably under Yukino's appraising gaze, but did little else - her mind so weary with worry that she could think of little else. Yukino was used to seeing looks like this on the people she conversed with as president of Aries, but to see it on the face of one so strong and respected was bizarre for Yukino. She did not quite know how to react.

"Perhaps your school would be better in your hands than under the care of Juliet Nao Zhang?" Yukino suggested mildly, knowing that Kruger would not have through of this little snag in the fabric of their plan yet. Natsuki Kruger was a capable leader for Gaulderobe, but Yukino had not seen enough of the newly appointed Fourth Column to make a value judgment on her. She simply reasoned that assuming the worst was for the best at this point in time. Yukino sighed quietly and with an easy smile crossing her features as she leaned across the desk to pat the younger woman on the hand.

She paused, waiting for a response from Kruger, upon getting nothing; she turned to Maya Blythe, leaning against the wall next to Haruka, her expression mimicking her own Otome's. "Madame Blythe, am I right in assuming that Gakuenchou's leave from Gaulderobe was only for the day?"

The woman nodded, "We were supposed to be back by now, but after sending Juliet back on her own with that girl - we assumed that we could stay another day or so. Juliet is skilled enough to handle Gaulderobe for a day." It was strange for Maya to be in such a grim mood, but Yukino supposed that it was because of the situation at hand. Haruka had told her all sorts of stories of Maya's antics in Cardair, many of which Yukino had flat-out refused to believe – but all of which put this grim-faced woman as a very out of character gesture.

Yukino closed her eyes, readying herself for the tirade that she knew would come, "I think that Natsuki - and perhaps you as well, Maya, should head back to Windbloom. There is very little that you can do here, until we get some word from Sara and those people you know from the Black Valley. We can only wait, for now." Yukino's gaze flicked to Haruka, silently warning her to stay quiet and keep her opinion to herself. It would never work, but sometimes the Brigadier General did get the point of the little glares Yukino sent her way.

Kruger looked as though she could do little else but hover worriedly on the edge of her seat, waiting for the breaking news that she knew would not come for several days - if not another week. Letting out a long sigh, the woman rose up from the straight-backed chair that she'd settled herself into after forfeiting the President's chair to its owner. She stood straight, her full height making her seem somehow larger than Yukino would have imagined. Looking at the president in the eyes, Kruger said, her voice devoid of anything that could be labeled as emotion, "I'd like Maya to stay here to assist in any way possible with the research, she's the best that we have at foreign relations - I'll head back to Gaulderobe, but I expect to be kept informed of what is going on." She paused, emotion creeping back into her voice as her visage changed - she dropped the mask of confidence, "Please, Haruka, help me - I just want her back."

While Yukino knew that societal customs dictated that she take offense to Kruger's address of her Otome and not herself; but Yukino understood more than most the strange relationship that Kruger, Haruka and Viola all shared. She rose, and moved around the table, placing a hand on Kruger's clenched fist. "Don't worry - we'll get her back."

Kruger said nothing more, she didn't need to. With a nod to Maya and Haruka, and a slight bow to Yukino, she took her leave - vanishing in a swirl of dark blue and slamming door.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea to let her go alone?" Haruka demanded before the door had closed completely. Her brow twitching and her arms crossed in annoyance. Yukino shot her a look that told her quite clearly to be quiet, and Haruka was reduced to muttering. After a moment, Yukino could not help but smile as she heard the distinct muttering of her Otome, "Damn bubazuke woman - always messing things up, breaking poor Natsuki's heart over and over again. The poor girl can't take much more."

Maya placed a thoughtful finger on her chin, and nodded, "Gakuenchou is not one to do anything too rash, plus, Juliet will be there to keep her in line."

Haruka snorted. "_That_ delinquent? Keep Natsuki Kruger in line? I think you ask the impossible, Maya-onee-sama."

At Maya's confused look, switching between the two of them, Haruka only shrugged, as if it was not her place to explain. Yukino supposed that it wasn't, as Haruka would most likely be reduced to a laughing fit that would leave her breathless for hours. She closed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on, "It's just that last time those two were left to their own devices, they got arrested for indecent exposure along our border and completely totaled one of my best army ATVs."

-

_Headmistress' Quarters, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Nao leaned back on the _very _comfortable couch in Kruger's apartment, an essay by some stuffy scholar covering the lower half of her face. She found herself feeling very resentful of the fact that Kruger could get away with having such a comfortable piece of furniture when there were some nights that Nao was luck to have a bed at all. It just wasn't fair, Nao decided. She closed her eyes, trying to stay awake required a heroic amount effort because of the slight humming that Fujino was making as she skimmed through the book that Nao had lent her. They'd arrived at Kruger's apartment three hours previously, and it was nearing midnight, yet Fujino showed no outward signs of tiredness.

Nao frowned under the essay, wondering how Fujino – or Viola for that matter – had learned to mask their fatigue so well. It was not a skill taught at Gaulderobe, Nao was quite sure of that. Perhaps it was simply a skill acquired with age, but that did not make much sense either, as Fujino was her age, if not younger. She tilted her head to the side, wondering if changing positions would make her feel any less tired.

So far, she'd had no luck at all.

"If you are tired, Nao-san, then you should sleep." Fujino looked over the top of the book, russet-colored eyes crinkling upwards in amusement as she watched Nao. Nao had not been aware that she had been being watched at all, and shifted uncomfortably, the essay dropping away from her face all together. "After all," Fujino added, lowering the book and standing, her form still imprinted on the pod-like chair in which she'd been reclining, "you have had a long day."

Nao scowled, she hated being mothered, and this woman was just as bad as Viola – only Nao was not sure if she should be asleep around this woman, while she felt more comfortable with Viola. Fujino was still making Nao wary, and the incident just before they'd left Doctor Helene's office was enough to put Nao on high alert, waiting for anything that might be considered a threat from the girl.

Blowing air out of her nose in what she thought was a threatening gesture, Nao frowned as exaggeratedly as she could, trying to make it seem as though she really was annoyed and not _intrigued_ by the fact that Fujino seemed to really want her abed and not keeping an eye on her any more. "I'm not tired," She muttered, rolling over to get better light on the essay that she was struggling with. Fujino was right about one thing, as the hours grew longer, staying awake became more and more difficult. Narrowing her eyes, Nao turned to stare at the girl, now moving about the room, inspecting the pictures that Kruger had hanging on the walls. "See anything you like?" She asked, as Fujino's breath caught, her finger trailing along the outside of a small picture frame, just below the clock on the wall. Conversation was always a good way to stay awake.

Fujino turned, and shook her head, "It's just strange to see someone who looks so much like me, and yet is not me, Nao-san." She explained, heading back to her chair and settling herself primly on the edge. She paused for a moment, as if scrutinizing the girl, before asking, "Is Viola-san anything like me?"

Nao smiled, the grin like the Cheshire-cat growing across her face, giving her an almost evil look. Oh, she could answer this question so many ways, but now, when faced with the question it's self, Nao wondered if honesty was the best choice - Fujino was many things, and innocent, she did not think was one of them. Nao had a sinking suspicion that she would be caught in whatever lie she attempted anyway, so the truth it was.

Setting down her paper, and pulling herself back into a sitting position, Nao answered, "She is a powerful woman - and she is very passionate about those she cares for. She loves to tease Gakuenchou too," She added, remembering the things that Kruger had told her, as if trying to keep herself sane during their time together, "but she's fiercely loyal to this school and to Kruger."

Fujino smiled, "Sounds a lot like someone I know." She intoned quietly, her face screwed up as though she was trying to not think of something.

"Did you leave someone behind, you know, in your world?" Nao asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, she wanted to know - did this Shizuru have her Natsuki as well? It seemed only natural, but Nao was beginning to think that Fujino was not all that she seemed, the information that she'd provided when Nao had asked her questions did little to elaborate as to whether or not a version of Kruger existed in the alternate dimension - other than to imply that yes, there was a Natsuki in that world.

Fujino shifted, her eyes betraying her discomfort. "She…" she faltered, and Nao could see a conflict in her features, "She doesn't feel the same way."

-

_Windbloom Airspace, Above _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom _

The city was dark when Natsuki Kruger arrived home, the clock on the palace tower showed ten past three. Navigating in the dark had never been a problem for her, and Natsuki was glad for it when she flew around the tall buildings that clustered around the center of Wind City. She shot upwards and pulled herself sharply to the left, headed towards her own home, nestled in the forest above Gaulderobe.

She wondered, briefly, where Youko would have sent Nao and that girl, realizing, after a moment of flight - that she would have sent the girls to her own home. Natsuki sighed, not really wanting to deal with houseguests at this late hour. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up in the morning to find that this was all just a bad dream.

Perhaps, Natsuki thought for what seemed like the tenth time this trip, it would have been better to keep a flying companion for this journey home – simply to prevent herself from doing anything irrational. Natsuki was pretty sure that she'd handled herself with dignity, but not even Yukino Chrysant could understand what Natsuki was going through, for all her empathy. The flight had, thankfully, proven to be just a period of melancholy for Natsuki, and for that she was truly grateful. Melancholy was not terror or longing or any of the other myriad of emotions that had been running through her head all day; it was simply a lull in the action. Natsuki could handle that.

A single pinprick of light illuminated the large bay windows that covered the entire south-facing wall of her home - despite in her robe; Natsuki could not see the source of it, or who was in the room. Nao, she reasoned, was most likely asleep on the couch, some half-finished school paper discarded on the floor beside her.

She landed silently, and let the robe fall from her body - enjoying the free feeling that her coat had around her, grateful to be removed from the nanomachine educed power-trip. Producing a key from the dark recesses of her pocket, Natsuki unlocked the door to her quarters, weariness overtaking her as she stepped into her home.

The quiet ticking of the clock and the soft sound of snores were the only sounds that permeated the apartment. She tossed her coat over the back of a kitchen chair, her keys jingling as they met the table. She proceeded to cross through the kitchen, intent on her bed.

In the main room, Nao was sprawled across the couch, papers all around her - her mouth open as she snored quietly. A blanket was pulled around her, tucked in as if by some other hand. Natsuki smiled and pulled the blanket up a little further - tucking the girl in as she continued, wondering where the other girl had got herself to.

The door to the guest room was still firmly closed, Natsuki noted, as though it had never been opened in the first place. She frowned, and turned to the half-open door of her own bedroom, wondering of Nao had the audacity to do something like that. It wasn't that sharing her bed really bothered her, but the thought of Nao actually doing something like that, just to see what kind of a reaction that her beloved Gakuenchou would have. The girl had some nerve.

Natsuki's brow twitched, for there was a prone lump at one end of the bed, curled up under what looked to be the edge of the bedspread, as far from the pillows as it could be without falling off the bed. Upon closer inspection, Natsuki realized what must have happened. Neither woman, as far as she knew, was the type to give up and just lie down and sleep. Most likely, Nao would wake up the next morning cursing Fujino and mourning the fact that she'd lost the 'lets stay awake' contest.

_Oh well,_ Natsuki thought, moving to adjust the girl into a better sleeping position. The feeling of nostalgia grew as she picked up the girl and moved her down to the end of the bed, pulling off her shoes and socks as she did. _Where did she get those clothes,_ Natsuki wondered, pulling the covers up over the girl and moving towards the bathroom, _Nao must have lent her something so that she didn't look so conspicuous. They make her look good._

Smiling, Natsuki pulled off her shirt and pants, leaving them on the bathroom floor as she hunted for her own nightclothes. She found them folded neatly on the vanity, where Shizuru had left that morning after telling her, for what seemed the millionth time - that she should fold them and put them on the bed herself. The fond memory, the teasing tone, was all it took to send Natsuki Kruger back into the mindset that she had been in, only hours before, in the office of the President of Aries.

She had never known what it was like to know, without a doubt, that her love was no where in this world where she could reach her. Natsuki, as she found herself becoming more and more acquainted with the feeling, had begun to realize that it was a feeling that no one should ever be expected to experience and remain sane while doing so.


	6. Early to Rise

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Six  
**

_AN - I know that this is in poor taste, but I need some suggestions, as I've hit a bit of a block as to how to continue from this point forward._

* * *

_Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe _

Sunlight streamed through the large bay windows of Natsuki Kruger's opulent quarters. The light was unfiltered, cutting through the quiet abyss of sleep and jerking the sleeping population of the room into wakefulness. Fujino Shizuru forced her eyes open, not wanting to awaken, but knowing that daylight, at this rate, was inevitable to awaken and face the day. She found herself staring into a sea of deep blue – not the color of the pillowcase or the sheets of the bed that she had collapsed upon not long after her 'caretaker' had fallen asleep while studying.

Shizuru frowned, still unsure as to how she felt about the strange version of Nao that had, albeit reluctantly, shown her nothing but kindness. Nao represented something to Shizuru that could not really be described in words – she had tried to hurt Natsuki, and for that she would have to pay. And yet, Shizuru was unsure if it was truly her place to lay judgment on this new Nao – despite all the similarities between them. She wanted revenge on the person who had hurt her Natsuki, and as far as she could tell, this Nao was a far more _human_ person than the one she knew. It was strange to see the Nao of this world, so carefree – so dedicated to whatever it was that the Otome did. She resolved to merely watch the girl for now – if she proved a problem, she could very easily be taken out. Such as the nature of these things, she was sure that Natsuki would understand.

A smile rose to her face, along with a slight flush, as she thought of the woman who called herself Natsuki Kruger. The woman was an impressive, not to mention terribly attractive in a much more mature way that her own Natsuki. Shizuru was not sure why she found this woman so beautiful, despite the fact that she had long-since pledged her heart to Natsuki and Natsuki only. To break her word was to go back on everything she stood for, and Fujino Shizuru simply would not do that.

It was a comfort, at least, to think that the Shizuru of this world evoked such a passion within Kruger. Shizuru only wished that she was back with her own Natsuki; the foreign nature of this world was confusing enough without the longing that she felt just looking at this 'other' Natsuki – a want for comfort that she knew the woman was more than capable of giving. She didn't know why she felt so drawn to Natsuki Kruger, or to anyone of this world – so alien to her own.

She'd been asleep, exhausted from what she'd done, the amazing feet of destruction caused by her blade and child; when she was pulled into this world. She'd resigned herself to the knowledge that getting home would not be happening anytime soon – but the more that she thought about what she'd done and the people she'd killed, the more Shizuru wondered if it would just be best to not leave. Natsuki did not love her in the way that Shizuru wanted her to, and that in itself was enough to make her want to curl up and simply cease to exist. She had to be strong, however, for Natsuki. Natsuki who could not take care of herself, and was forever getting into trouble. Shizuru just hoped that Natsuki would be alright while she was away.

_Perhaps,_ Shizuru mused, _it was also nice to be away from Fuuka for a while. Away from the petty aspects of life there, away from everything that had driven her to this point of madness. _

But Shizuru had always been skilled at escapism, which this trip was, in a sense. She'd escaped the trials of her home in order to replace someone who had problems of her own; she'd forced apart a truly beautiful union.

She had no place here.

Rolling into the warmth that encompassed her, she tried to stifle the sobs that she knew would come eventually. She was naked in this world, with no reputation or power to hide herself behind. She had no reason to be strong; she was missing the most important thing to her. Shifting, she found that the blueness that covered her vision had buttons, and white stitching along the edges. Eyes blurred with the tears that did not quite have the courage to fall, Shizuru clung to that blueness, for it was the same shade as her Natsuki's winter sleepwear, and that small detail brought her more comfort than anything else.

-

_Living Room, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe _

Nao awoke with a curse, papers and blanket flying everywhere as she sat up hastily, annoyance creeping into her every being. It was bizarre for her to wake up in such a flurry of motion. Usually she was much more deliberate in her actions, stretching every muscle in her body in the process of waking up.

Nao scowled and rubbed a hand through her hair. S_he_ was supposed to be the one to stay awake longer, so why was she asleep and covered with the blanket that had been draped over the back of the chair that Fujino had spent most of the night curled up in? Screwing up her sleep-addled face, Nao pulled herself unsteadily to her feet. She yawned broadly and carefully got up, stepping so as to avoid the papers scattered about the floor. She needed the bathroom, she decided, almost as much as she needed to figure out what had caused her to fall asleep so quickly.

She remembered closing her eyes in resignation after Fujino had made some comment about it not being proper for her to keep her host up all night. Nao had retorted that she wasn't the host and that Kruger would have at least expanded the effort to make sure that she was not stuck sleeping on the couch. Fujino had laughed at that, and it was the last Nao remembered - as though her body had just given into the fatigue that had been plaguing her since the clock in the palace had struck twelve.

_Oh well,_ She mused, noting the discarded clothes littering the floor of the bathroom and kicking them into some sort of a pile in the corner of the room, _It's not that it really proves anything – just that Fujino is better at burning the midnight oil that she was. Impressive, really, for one who looked so waifish. _

She splashed water on her face, the coolness awakening her, alerting her to the gritty feeling in her eyes – she'd left her contacts in again. Damn.

Grumbling, Nao slipped out of the bathroom and back down the hallway to the main room. She had her glasses and her contact case in her bag, damnable things that they were. She'd had them since her first fight as a Column of Gaulderobe – she'd suffered some head trauma at the hand of a Slave that had completely ruined her eyes at a distance. The GEM and nanomachine technology was able to correct the problem to some extent, but Nao was still required to wear contacts as per Gaulderobe standards. A triumphant smile on her face, she found the warn glasses case and the small plastic container into which Nao had ever intention of depositing her contacts.

She moved back down the hallway with seeming catlike grace and barely was able to stop herself from laughing out loud when she glanced into the master bedroom, where she assumed Fujino had disappeared off to sleep.

_How… interesting. _

The clothes on the bathroom floor had meant very little to Nao, as she had roomed with Kruger on more than a few occasions and was well aware of the fact that the woman was the biggest slob in existence. Now, however, seeing the scene in the room before her, Nao found herself jumping to a sudden and rather shocking conclusion. Kruger had returned home that night, most likely after they had both fallen asleep.

That in itself wasn't that surprising. For all the shortcomings of Haruka Armitage, her Master was quite capable to seeing when it would do someone more good than harm to be return to this god-forsaken school. The fact that Kruger had come how and put Fujino to sleep in her own bed suggested something more deep and sinister. Nao wondered, briefly, if Fujino had put herself to bed and Kruger had just crawled in at a later point in time, perhaps forgetting herself.

Nao grinned wickedly and ran through a list of impure and rude things she could say to the pair of them when they rejoined the realm of the living.

Nao stared at the sleeping pair a minute longer, debating if it were perhaps a better plan simply dump water on them and be done with it. They did make a cute image, she was forced to admit; with Kruger curled protectively around the younger girl. Fujino was clinging to Natsuki as if there was nothing else that was keeping her tied to this earth – _a vice grip of love_, Nao mused, heading back into the bathroom to shower and take out the fiery instruments of death before they stuck themselves to her eyes for good.

She knew what she was going to do with her day, today. Nao was quite certain that she could convince Kruger to allow Fujino to assist her in with the Coral Class ranged weapons lesson she was supposed to be teaching today for Miss Maria. The woman had taken a few days off to visit some family, grand nieces and nephews, if Nao was informed correctly – and had left Nao in charge of the Coral ranged weapons class until she returned. Nao wasn't sure she liked the idea of teaching, but it would give her the opportunity and the means of actually testing Fujino's fighting skill without raising too many suspicions.

For Nao, it was a match made in heaven.

Mulling over Fujino and what exactly it was about her that put her so on edge, Nao stepped into the shower, the steam of the hot water meeting her skin and awakening her body even further. Yes, today would be a fun day.

-

_Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe _

_'S strange for Shizuru to cling like this, _was Natsuki Kruger's first thought of the morning as she pulled her bed partner into a tighter embrace. _I had the most awful dream. You'd left me, vanished into nothingness. _

Kruger tried not to dwell too much on her troubled dreams, but as she woke up, the grim reality of the previous day's events came crashing down around her. Shizuru really had left them; she'd vanished into nothing to be replaced by someone younger and decidedly off-putting.

She shifted slightly, and noticed that the clinging form did not relent its grip on her torso. Leaning over, Natsuki said, "Time to wake up."

The girl shifted, and rolled away from Natsuki, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She sat up and looked around with a rather alarmed look on her face. It was almost shocking how quickly a mask of calm fell back across her features. She looked at Natsuki with polite interested and asked, "When did you get in?"

Natsuki smiled sleepily and ran a hand though her tangled hair. It was far too early for Natsuki to attempt to puzzle out the strange way of interaction that this girl used to show that she was taken aback and confused as to her sudden change of location. It was better to look a little goofy, Natsuki reasoned, than to stand out like a sore thumb because she did not want to admit that she would be the first to lay waste to this woman, should it prove viable to find a way to get Shizuru Viola back.

There was some movement down the hall, coming from the bathroom, unless Natsuki's ears were failing her. From the sound of it, Nao was already awake and in the shower. This was good, it meant that Natsuki could have a conversation without the worry that Nao would come barging in and mess up the tentative peace she'd managed to salvage from amid the wreckage of what had been her perfect existence.

"Around three this morning," She laughed, fondness creeping into her voice, "I found you asleep at the foot of my bed, like a protective puppy. Very cute." It was true, Natsuki guessed, that the girl had looked rather cute the night before, curled up on the end of the bed. A teasing tone, she noted, seemed to put the girl at ease. That was good to remember.

Fujino flushed slightly, and turned away from Natsuki, staring down hard at the bed sheets for a few minutes before exhaling quietly and casting a brief, half-missed glance at Natsuki. That was her queue to continue and Natsuki asked, "Did you sleep well?"

The girl nodded, but did not bring her eyes up to meet Natsuki's, "It's strange to have you avoid calling me anything at all. My name is Fujino Shizuru, I don't think we met properly before." She gave an odd sort of half-bow, the way that Mai used to when they were still in school. She turned and smiled at Natsuki, reminding the older woman of everything that had made her fall in love with Shizuru Viola, when she was about this age. The charming smile was enough to throw Natsuki off completely, but there was something else barely hidden behind that, something that Natsuki could not quite name.

Something terrifying.

Still, it was best to play on the safe side. Natsuki allowed the brief feelings of nostalgia to overtake her, and reached out and brushed her hand against the girl's cheek, amused as the girl flushed even more, "Shizuru, then."

It would be strange to call anyone with Shizuru's face any less than her proper name, Natsuki decided.

"I swear, I leave you kids alone for more than one minute!" The harsh biting sound of Juliet Nao Zhang's accented voice came from the doorway and Natsuki looked up guilty. The girl was wearing an old Gaulderobe sweatshirt and a towel around her waist; still very damp from the shower. Natsuki shook her head, knowing that Nao was just setting herself up to be teased later.

Nao marched into the room, irritation clearly etched onto her face. "No sex. She's not of age, plus, from what I understand, you both belong to other people."

Natsuki let her hand drop, remembering how unpleasant it had been, explaining to Shizuru about her interactions with Nao after their journey to Aries – and how hurt she had felt after Shizuru had told her of Tomoe and her obsessive love. It just wasn't right to do that again.

Even if it was _technically_ the same person.


	7. If You Are Prepared

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Seven  
**

_AN - Thank you everyone for your suggestions, I have a better idea of what I'm doing now._

* * *

_Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe _

A little later that same morning found Natsuki Kruger deep in her closet, looking for clothes that might fit Fujino's small frame. It was odd to hunt through all of Shizuru Viola's old clothing, and Kruger could not help but feel as though she were somehow intruding on her partner's privacy. Shizuru, Kruger was sure, would not have minded too much; but it was as though they were simply dressing up a replacement. Natsuki was not sure that she could stand that.

Still, the morning had been somewhat routine for Kruger. There were morning showers and avoiding parading around naked because Shizuru would make some sort of comment that would have her blushing and unable to speak for several minutes. Nao's presence, and the general awkwardness of Fujino's presence seemed throw off the whole vision of calm that Kruger was trying very hard to put on. She was not calm, and she certainly was not acting it.

That being said, the agitation that she felt was purely her own discomfort with the situation. Nao had informed her that there was no way that they could be 'good Otome' and let Fujino run around in the clothes she had slept in the night before. They resolved, after Kruger had declared herself unable to take advantage of a minor in such a way, to see if Viola had any old clothes in the dark recesses of the closet where only Kruger's lingerie collection lurked that might fit Fujino.

After assuring Fujino that there were indeed clothes for her to wear, it was just a challenge to find them, Kruger made her way into the kitchen, setting the kettle on for tea. Nao had thrown on some clothes that she'd brought with her the night before and had loudly informed Fujino that Kruger was obsessive when it came to tea and could not function without it.

Fujino's smile, as far as Kruger could guess, was a genuine one at this pronouncement.

Kruger made a point of providing Nao with a cup of tea, as it was well known that the redhead was as much a caffeine addict as the rest of her university classmates. Nao had taken it with a scowl and downed it in one shot. Kruger led Fujino over to the closet at that point, pulling down shirts and holding them up to Fujino. They were looking; Kruger was quite sure, for something that would not make Fujino look too conspicuous, but still differentiate her from the rest of the students. So far, the only item that they had all agreed on; was a pair of grey pants that Kruger had identified as something that had belonged to Viola back when they were in school.

Why they were still in their closet, however, Natsuki would not say – choosing to say that they had just never found their way to the trash. It was far more likely that they'd simply forgotten them – as Shizuru Viola had grown an inch or two very late in her adolescence and a lot of their things from that period had been lost in the chaos that was completing education at Gaulderobe and then going on to take the position of Column of Gaulderobe.

"What about this?" Nao asked, pulling on what looked like a frock coat of some value. Kruger smiled, for Nao had the same sort of upbringing that she had had. Money was a way of separating oneself from students, who often were starved enough for cash as it was, given Gaulderobe's tuition fees.

Kruger looked at the garment critically, pondering the merits of offering it up as a sacrifice to Fujino. She'd always rather liked that coat, even though Viola flat-out refused to wear it, citing that it wasn't proper for an Otome. Kruger covered, knowing that any reluctance to part with the garment would be met with a flat-out refusal from Fujino. It'd already happened three times in the past twenty minutes. "I don't see why not. Shizuru, wear this." She held the coat out to the girl, who took it, a blush appearing on her face.

"Is this Natsuki's?" She asked; her eyes twinkling as she pulled on the pale purple coat. The gold and red trim stood out against the dimness of the closet's space, as the single light bulb above them did little to illuminate the room.

Kruger shook her head, a blush appearing on her face. She knew that tone well, for it had been used on her many a time, "No, it's Shizuru's. A gift from a distant uncle some years ago… I think." Honestly, she could not recall when the coat had made its way into their life, but it seemed to be made for Fujino, falling off her shoulders and giving her a severe look that nearly aged her enough to compare with Viola.

"Ookini," Fujino smiled again. Her expression was light, as if she did not realize that neither Kruger nor Nao, from the looks of it, knew what she had just said. Kruger watched her with an interested look as Fujino pulled at the cuffs of the plain button-down shirt that Nao had thrown at her just a moment before the coat had come into view. Kruger thought that the ensemble made her look _regal_ but not nearly as regal as the Zipang dress that she'd arrived in this world wearing had.

"'Ookini?'" Nao repeated Fujino's word, confused as to its meaning. As she exited the closet, she asked, "What does that mean?"

Fujino followed her, leaving Kruger alone in the closet. Kruger ran a hand along the clothing that had managed to maintain it's hangers – she missed her, missed her so much. She took a deep breath, and pulled her jacket off of it's hook on the back of the door. She exited the closet just in time to hear Fujino's answer to Nao's question.

"Where I come from, it means 'thank you'." Fujino explained, leaning against the arm of the couch.

Kruger watched Nao with a guarded expression, taking note of the look of somewhat shock in Nao's eyes as she stared at Fujino. There was something in the girl's light tone that made Kruger shiver; there was something unnatural about it. Still, it was amazing how easily, when clothed properly; Fujino managed to blend into the city of Windbloom, even without leaving the safety of Kruger's home. She looked like a native, and her pattern of speech would be enough to pass Fujino off as one of the more elite and educated of the Windbloom population.

Nao coughed, as if to cover her sudden silence. , "Odd way of saying thank you…" She trailed off, her eyes narrowing as she noticed Kruger's gaze. She moved forward, motioning with her chin that Kruger should follow her. Shrugging at Fujino, Kruger did so, and the two of them moved out of Fujino's earshot.

"Can I borrow Fujino for the day?" Nao asked, her voice hinting that a yes would be the appropriate response to this question.

Kruger frowned, wondering what could be so interesting about Fujino that Nao would actively try to spend time with her. "What for?" She asked, knowing Nao well enough to agree to nothing before she knew exactly what Nao was planning. Spending a good deal of time with someone alone in the woods was a great way to get to know them, Kruger reasoned, and she did not trust Nao in the slightest. As it was, not even the lowest forms of blackmail and extortion were beyond Juliet Nao Zhang.

Nao smiled, her face reminding Kruger of a cat, "You know that Miss Maria is off to visit some family for the next few days. She demanded – rather forcefully I must add, that I take care of the Coral combatant classes until she gets back. I could always use some help, and Fujino would just be sitting around doing nothing."

Kruger frowned, but she could follow Nao's line of thinking quite well. This was a perfectly reasonable way to have Fujino use whatever combat skills she had; and for Nao to assess them. Kruger would have liked to that bit herself, but as Nao pointed out, Miss Maria had left _Nao _in charge. Kruger wondered just how much Nao had already picked up from the girl. She'd seen some of the outward physical traits of an Otome - the unnatural grace and easy skill at which Fujino moved set off warning bells all over Kruger's mind, but she was in no position to come out and ask the girl if she'd ever been trained to use a weapon. It just wouldn't be proper.

Choosing her words carefully, Kruger nodded, "I think that we should find a way to test her abilities, but I want you to try and ask her before you try anything – if she has no skills, I don't want her getting hurt."

From across the room, a cheerful voice called, "So kind of Natsuki, to care about my wellbeing."

Both Kruger and Nao stared at each other before sighing. There were just some things that one did not attempt to put past Shizuru, no matter which one. Sneaking around behind her back was one of them.

-

_Coral-Rank Armory, Exercise Rooms, Gaulderobe _

Following Nao's rather forceful lead, Fujino Shizuru bowed her head at Natsuki Kruger and followed Nao down and out of the Gakuenchou's apartments. They passed through the wooded area they had the night before, and Shizuru had to admit that she found it much more inviting than she had the night before. Kruger had said something about heading into the city for a meeting with some diplomatic higher-ups with regards to what had happened at the ruins. It was odd, for Shizuru, to see Natsuki taking so much responsibility and handling herself so well in what had to be a rather complicated political stage. This was _her_ sort of work, not brash Natsuki's.

Shizuru sighed, for everything in this world was different. It was so jarring to see the faces of people she knew, people she hated, people she'd attempted to _kill_; look at her with openly friendly faces. She was still struggling with herself, with the urges that threatened to rise up every time this new Nao, this 'Juliet' said something too reminiscent of the old Nao – the one that had hurt Natsuki.

Shizuru followed Nao down to the western-style school buildings, hanging a sharp right as they passed the building that they had stopped at the night before. It looked far more inviting than it had the previous evening, with wide arching windows and people milling about the front entrance dressed in the same sort of maid-like uniform as the girls they'd encountered the night before. They looked rather ridiculous, Shizuru thought, but it was not her place to judge this world. She was as much an outsider to this world as the garb and language made her feel. She was unused to the guttural Japanese-English fusion they spoke here. The writing was completely in English, and not something she could understand that well.

Nao continued to walk though the wide courtyard as though she owned the place, and Shizuru noticed that they were heading towards a building that looked, more than anything, like a school.

She'd guessed, after all the talk with the doctor who looked and acted suspiciously like the school nurse back at Fuuka that there was very little chance that she'd be getting home any time soon. This was good; for Shizuru knew she needed the time to get hear head back together after what had happened last time she'd lost in. She'd killed, oh, god knew how many people – and to what end? She'd been thrown into some archaic alternative universe where there was _a_ Natsuki who loved _a_ Shizuru that was not her. This was all so insane.

From listening to Nao and Kruger interact with each other; Shizuru could guess that there was something more going on than what made her eye. This Natsuki was far better at lying than Shizuru had ever even considered, and it was difficult to figure out exactly what was being kept from her. Shizuru just hoped it wasn't anything major, as she did not want to spend the rest of her life here.

No, Shizuru had things she needed to do, revenge to have. Being kept in this world, so different and yet so similar to her own, would be suicide for it and its inhabitants.

Now, however, she had to play her part carefully, or she would be found out.

Shizuru was somewhat concerned that the version of reality that she'd fallen into was populated with magical girls. She'd grown up watching television shows that featured girls very much like the Otome that Nao and Kruger boasted to be. It was odd to think that all of that was caused by machines within a body, for her powers were far more pure than that. A sudden feeling of panic hit her, in this world would she still be able to materialize her element? Would Kiyohime come if he was called?

She didn't know. Nao opened the door to the building and lead her down a hallway lined with empty classrooms that had the equipment to teach every subject that Shizuru could think of.

"Come in here," Nao pulled open a nondescript door at the end of the hallway. A dusty ray of sunlight streamed though the dirty window, betraying the brightness of the outdoors in this dingy space.

Shizuru stepped in, and was immedietly taken aback. T he room was filled with ever sort of weapon she could think of, and then some. She'd always though she'd had a good handle on weaponry, as the martial arts classes she'd taken as a child had always been among her favorite memories outside of the time she'd spent with Natsuki – but this made her feel small. She could use only a few of them, and name very little outside of that number. "Ara, Nao-san; is this your armory?"

Nao grinned crookedly at her, making Shizuru flinch a little bit. Nao would always have the same smile, a wicked smile that could never be anything other than malicious. She had to keep reminding herself that this was not her foe, merely another wearing her face. Nao answered as she pulled down a dusty staff from one of the walls. "No, that's up by Kruger's office – this is where we store the weapons that the students use when we need them to demonstrate proficiency with something outside of their weapon of comfort. It's not always easy for the students to move out of their first choice of weapon, but the Robes are each unique and the weapon is completely random. The students need to be prepared for when the take their Meistar GEM."

Shizuru nodded, her eyes flicking around the room. "Why are we here then, Nao-san?" She guessed that Nao wanted her to prove something, but what she did not quite know. She hoped it would not involve fighting, for she did not think she could handle that at the present moment. Especially not against Nao.

"I want you to pick out a weapon, preferably one with a mid to long-range attack radius. We'll need you to help illustrate a point that I want to make to the Coral-rank students." She started at Shizuru's purposefully perplexed face for a moment before adding, "They're the members of the first group of students, the ones who are just starting out their Otome training."

"Ah." Shizuru said, wandering back along the ranks of weapons. In such a room like this, she could summon her element and it would not make the difference to Nao. The woman was clearly a trained warrior, but hopefully not one that would know the contents of this vast room inside and out. She closed her eyes, pulling her body as deep into the limited shadow that the weapons racks offered.

Summoning her element had always been easy for Shizuru – she was able to materialize it without much of a hassle or complicated sequence. The yellow sparks of power gathered in her hand, and soon the element found its way back into her welcome grasp. The blood of hundreds – if not thousands, was on its blood-red blade; and Shizuru, for once in all the time she'd spend in this strange new world, felt as though she could take on the world.

Stepping back into Nao's line of sight, she smiled, holding up the naginata, trying not to betray her skill with the weapon as she presented it to Nao for inspection, "I'll use this, if it's alright with you."

Nao smiled back at her with a grin like the Cheshire-cat. Something intrigued her, Shizuru had no doubt. The only question was what.

-

_Executive Offices, The Hexagon, _ _Aries_ _Republic_

President Yukino Chrysant looked across her desk as severely as she could manage, given the comical woman that she had been presented with some three hours before. The leading expert from the Aries Public University on pre-Twelve Kingdoms War research, one Professor Hakkai Sandskein, was funny looking at the best of times. With her hair falling out of the messy bun that she'd pulled it up into, and her clothes rumpled and creased, as though she'd slept in them on numerous occasions; she did not look like one to be in the presence of the most powerful person in her country.

Her mind, however, was unrivaled when it came to what it did best – looking at pictures and interpreting their meaning. Yukino was very much impressed by her ability to speak freely about her work, and about what the Katsu Ruins might mean in the long run.

"Madame President," Professor Sandskein began, trailing her finger over photographs of the inside of the Katsu Ruins, "All of these symbols represent a different faction in the Twelve Kingdoms War. The wolf and the snake, the spider, the phoenix; all of these animals were the calling cards of the original kingdoms that fought in that war." She leaned forward, and continued, almost conspiratorially, "The spore, the symbol of the ancient line of the Kings of Aries, is present here as well – almost every country that plays a large political role in the current world arena is accounted for here. It's as if this was the original war – or an earlier conflict between the Twelve Kingdoms, or families, or individuals – I cannot be sure."

President Chrysant closed her eyes; this truly was an interesting development.


	8. The Queen of Hell

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Eight  
**

_AN - A big hats off to EE for the wonderful suggestions/over analysis. I want you to have my babies for that comment about Nagi, Negi and maki maki. But you dance around the topic that I myself have been toying with for a while, as the Twelve-Kingdoms War could very easily be the HiME carnival. And from the MO ending, one can clearly see all of the planets of the Solar System as Arika runs by them. Arinko-baka will not be in this story, if I can help it It makes more sense for the MO world to be post-nuclear holocaust HIME world. This makes me think that the Twelve Kingdoms War was not the carnival that took place in Mai HiME, but perhaps the one 300 years after that. _

_Honestly, I've had your Review Open this whole time as I ponder out how to write this. This is actually the longest chapter, ever, and I even went back to Fuuka to try and explain some things. I guess you're a good influence._

* * *

_Elsewhere  
__(Fuuka Academy, Director's Rooms, Japan) _

The Queen of Hell, as she had been dubbed, looked out over the wide expanse of her domain. She sat, taking in the damage, and tried to make sense of what was happening. Smoke still rose from the blasted remains of the underclassmen dorms, where the battle had started, late the night before. Beyond that, she could not sense two of her HiME; it was as if they had completely vanished from the scope of the school all together – or they had perished at the hand of a comrade and once-friend.

She just hoped that they'd met fitting ends, and that this Hell could end soon. For all her knowledge, she did not know what had happened during that battle, but she had no doubts that Nagi would come waltzing in any moment to tell her all about it. She was not looking forward to the occasion.

However, she wanted to talk to the bane of her existence, the constant thorn in her best-laid plans. The night before, as Nagi's subtle manipulation of the HiME suddenly jolted into a much higher-paced, stronger conflict, she had felt a sudden change in one of her HiME, one of the ones with the potential to actually win this war.

The Queen could not say that she was rooting for any one of her children to win this twisted war, she just wanted the outcome to be a good one, something that could help the girls regain what they had put on the line to fight in this war. She hoped that whoever the victor was, that she would not accept the monster – her bother's offer, and become his wife.

"Rewriting history is hard, ne?" She steeled herself; Nagi had entered her room, uninvited, as always.

"Yes, it is." She took a long sip of tea, not wanting to face the irritating little man.

"But it's strange, isn't it? Our hidden HiME has changed." Nagi, she could tell, was leaning against the bag of her armchair, facing away from her, so they could speak but not see each other – such was their custom. They were two very separate people and for them to converse without violence took a lot of effort on both of their parts.

"You sensed it too?" She faltered, for sometimes it was nice to speak to someone who understood what was going on, someone who actually got the bigger picture that she could only allude to with the HiME and the rest of the school officials. "She has changed; her essence seems far more in control than she's been in weeks."

"After last night, with her child first stepping onto the stage, I would have assumed that she would spiral out of control. Ironic that all it took was Natsuki-chan's rejection. I thought she was stronger. But this sudden change, maybe Kiyohime's presence calmed the poor girl. Gave her heart some peace," Nagi lamented, sighing as he steadily moved into the Queen's sight. He knelt, almost ironically, and asked her, "Should I go and check up on her?"

"I think you should allow her to collect herself now. Let her have her peace, it's likely to be the last she's allowed before she has to go confront Kuga-san again." The Queen shook her head. It was good to give young love the chance to grow. This war would force them apart, and then make them realize their devotion to each other. In every war that she'd seen, they had always loved each other. Nagi knew it as well as she did. It was not their place to interfere with their epic love story.

That time would come later.

-

_Grand Library, The Hexagon, Aries Republic _

President Yukino Chrysant stood sandwiched between the two taller forms of Haruka Armitage and Professor Hakkai Sandskein, surveying the bookshelves before her with interest. The two taller women were perusing the Grand Library within the Aries Government Headquarters, The Hexagon; with hopes that they might be able to find anything that could help to translate the number of characters they'd found written on the wall of the Katsu Ruins. They had figured out a few details based on the image-symbolism of the ruins, but nothing told them what exactly the Katsu Ruins stood for. Yukino's mind was filled with more questions than answers after Professor Sandskein's lecture and she didn't think that they would be answered any time soon.

The Ruins, it seemed, were proving the greatest mystery in unraveling a potential way of switching (they really had no other word for it) their own Shizuru Viola back with the girl who'd appeared in the ruins in her stead. But now, however, they were delving into a history that Yukino had only been dimly aware of as her formal education had consisted purely of political theory and law. It was intriguing for her to utilize her already well-established network of spies to delve into the history of their country – back before the time of the republic.

She'd sent out orders for her informants to collect stories, legends really, about Earl before the Twelve Kingdoms War. They knew that the girl who'd replaced Shizuru Viola appeared to have come from that time period. Professor Sandskein seemed to be of the opinion that any information on that time period could help with the final goal of figuring out how to switch them back.

Yukino had always been aware of the value that Aries put on its spy network, for Spymaster was one of the few government offices that the president could not appoint. No, that title had to be earned. Still, it was odd to think that the creature that had best represented Aries since the time of the Twelve Kingdoms War was a 'spore'. _It wasn't even a real animal,_ Yukino thought bitterly. At least most of the other countries had cool mascots.

Yukino was not sure what she felt about having such a thing as the national 'animal' but, in a sense, it actually fit quite well. After all, her army intelligence and military might were among the best of their world, and spores were known for their ability to get anywhere with little or no difficulty. It was actually a testament to the tenacity of the Aries people.

Yukino grinned; she'd have to mention that to Haruka. It could do well on 'This Weeks Armitage'.

"Madame President?" Professor Sandskein asked, raising a hand and running it through her messy hair, unconsciously adjusting the tie on her bun, pulling it tighter as she tried to escape the gentle curls that fell out of her hair and framed her face.

Yukino's attention turned again back to reality, as she looked up at Sandskein, giving her permission to speak. She was almost awed by the fact that the woman had actually taken the time to respect her need for silence and contemplation. Yukino was so used to Haruka simply saying what was on her mind that it was a welcome change.

Not that she really _minded_ Haruka. The woman provided her with a very welcome breath of fresh air. They'd known each other for quite a while as it was, but Haruka always made Yukino smile.

The professor pulled Yukino towards a vacant table, and dropped a large and worn tome onto the table. "This is a detailed, early journal of one of the survivors of the Twelve Kingdoms war – One of the ones who went on to the north, to later settle in the lands around where the Gakuenchou of Gaulderobe hails from."

"One of Natsuki's descendents?" Haruka asked, again mangling her words. It was one of her most endearing traits, but Yukino did not understand the way that world-association worked in her Otome's brain half the time, as the mistakes she made were oftentimes quite illogical. It was like free-association. You say one thing, but you're thinking of something completely different, and a simply memory or sensory response dictates the response.

Yes, that was very much like Haruka Armitage.

"It's 'ancestors,' Haruka." Yukino said. Professor Sandskein had opened the book and was now copying something down from the printing information page at the front of the book. Yukino frowned, turning a page as she scanned the writing. It was in no language that she recognized.

"I knew that!" Haruka retorted, peering over Yukino's shoulder to inspect the contents of the book. Her brow furrowed as she looked at the strange characters. "I thought that Kruger wrote normally when she first came to school. She didn't write in characters like this."

Professor Sandskein shook her head, "No, the people of Kruger County – the whole of the northern lands, really - speak the same language we do, it is just that this is so old that they had not yet set the international-language laws, as far as I know."

"So can you read it, professor?" Yukino asked, pushing her glasses up her nose as she did so. She really hoped that the woman would say 'yes' to her question. She did not want to interact with the strange woman who'd appeared in the Katsu Ruins in the stead of Shizuru Viola. There was something very unsettling about her.

"No, but I think that I may have some idea as to who can. You two both mentioned that the girl who appeared in Viola's stead looked as though she'd fallen out of what limited resources we have about Zipang during the very beginning of the time after the Twelve Kingdoms War. I wonder if she could read it." The professor looked thoughtful, running a long finger down the line of text.

With her hair falling into her face, and her eyes so keenly intent on the object of her study, Yukino could not but feel her breath catch at the beauty of this woman. It was stunning to see the woman at work. Yukino felt herself flush as Haruka coughed behind her, reminding both women that they were in the presence of Yukino's one, and only true love.

Still, she was not amused at the prospect of having to have a conversation with Shizuru Viola's replacement.

-

_Atrium, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Nao walked into the silent classroom, thinking that it was foolish to call it that. Even in her Coral days, she'd though it odd that the atrium was not called an atrium. The large room was built for teaching physical combat classes, with a long row of bleachers lining one wall and a good, hardwood floor. She hated this room, for it was designed to let sound carry for lessons. Nothing she said to these Corals would be missed. She hated that. She could feel the eyes on herself as she made her way to stand before the members of the Coral class, looking at them with expectant eyes.

"As I'm sure you all know, Miss Maria is taking today and tomorrow off to visit her family, and has asked me to fill in for her." Nao began, resting her hands primly behind her back. She'd brought loose clothes with her the night before, but she still felt as though she should be lecturing in a robe. The lesson, however, would not be taught in a robe, but in plain clothes, as many of the combat lessons were taught. Coral-Rank students were simply not skilled enough to fight in the robes and be expected to learn things at the same time.

Nao was intrigued, as she watched the reaction of the students as Fujino moved to join her in the middle of the room. She'd been expecting this, considering how she'd managed to slip Fujino past the curious students the night before. No doubt, they all thought that she'd brought her _girlfriend _to class with her.

As if Nao would be that unprofessional. Maybe Chie Hallard would do something that bizarre, but not her. Juliet Nao Zhang was a name that needed to be maintained. She had a reputation to keep up, after all.

Still, there were some pointed stares, and whispering around the group of students. She coughed quietly, and tried to look severe. She had a sinking suspicion that it didn't work, as the tittering from the students got louder. Nao felt her brow twitch, and she shouted, "Oi! Miss Maria left me in charge, which means that I can tell her if any of you give me trouble; so shaddup." The room fell silent almost immediately, save for a quiet, almost hysterical-sounding giggle from Fujino. Nao shot her a glare that would have curdled milk, but the odd woman simply shrugged it off, a bizarrely red gleam in her eyes.

Nao coughed. "That being the case, I have asked Miss Fujino, a recent visitor from Zipang and guest of the Gakuenchou, to help us our as I review your skill with ranged weapons."

Hands shot up into the air as soon as she finished, and Nao readied herself for the storm. Running her gaze up and down the lines of students, she picked a hand that didn't seem to cocky or too threatening to call on. Those questions were usually easier to answer, anyway. The cocky ones were usually challenging questions that Nao did not honestly want to answer. Perhaps later on in the morning, when she was not so tired from her stay-awake contest with Fujino, she'd be willing to answer. The brown-haired girl stood, and stuttered out, "W-why does Miss F-Fujino look so much like Shizuru-onee-sama, Nao-sempai?"

Nao closed her eyes, she had very much wanted for this class to go by without a question about Fujino. She'd intended to go with what Kruger had said and simply not answer any questions about the girl, but she'd left herself wide open for the young Coral's demand. She really had no choice but to answer the question.

Still, how nosy of the students. It really bothered her when people tried to pry into Kruger's affairs. It wasn't any of their business. Scowling, she turned her gaze to meet the young girl's frightened one, "I don't know, Erika. But let me assure you that Miss Fujino and your Shizuru-onee-sama could not be-"

"We are separate people, Erika-chan." Fujino finished, smiling sweetly. Nao felt a growing feeling of something she could not place growing in the pit of her stomach. It was not fear or panic, for she knew those emotions well, no, this was something else, something far more sinister.

Fujino gave the class a pleasant, if emotionless smile, as she held the pig sticker she'd somehow found in the depths of the armory. Nao found herself worriedly noticing the way that the younger girl held her weapon neatly before her with a fluid grip that had all the hallmarks of a trained warrior. The woman turned to the rest of the Corals, bowing respectfully as was the custom in Zipang, "It's nice to meet you all. My name, as Nao-san has already told you, is Fujino." Nao wondered how she knew to do that, for she was an alien to this reality.

_Sharper than a razor, that one_, a voice echoed in her head. _I'd watch her._

Nao frowned, when did her inner monologue sound like Nagi Dai Artai? She shook her head to clear it of that bizarre thought and found that Fujino had engaged the students in conversation.

_The nerve. _

"Where are you from, Miss Fujino?" Another girl asked, interjecting and not raising her hand. Nao made a mental note to hand her a demerit at the end of the lesson. She had to steer the conversation back to safer waters, for Fujino would no doubt mess up the cover story, as Nao had only mentioned it in passing a moment ago. No way she'd actually managed to pick up on the casual reference.

"I believe you call it 'Zipang,'" Fujino smiled, shocking Nao. The woman could think on her feet, impressive. Nao let out a low hissing whistle and wished that she did not have to end the conversation before Fujino let slip something both interesting and useful. She had to actually conduct the lesson, as she was terrified of what Miss Maria would do should the woman return and found that Nao had done a less-than perfect job on her lessons. Somehow, the fact that the woman had remained an Otome for as long as she had made Nao worry what _other_ sorts of pent-up issues she had.

"Alright, no more questions, however informative they are." Nao clapped her hands, and the class snapped back to attention, fifty pairs of eyes fixing her with their immediate stares. Nao shifted uncomfortably, for the reaction was rather startling. "I'm to be teaching you about ranged-weapons, and how it is best to combat against them. Does anyone here fight with such a weapon as their weapon of choice?"

Several hands shot up, but it was as Nao had guessed at the beginning of the lesson – most of the Corals were not skilled enough to handle such a variety of weapons. Mostly they fought with pole-arms and their fists. This, however, did not take into account that many of the students also were afraid to use lethal force in these battles, however annoying they were.

Oh yes, Nao would teach them many things. First of all would be the putting of the rather unnerving woman beside her into one of several categories. Either she was good at fighting with the weapon in her hands, or she wasn't – but Nao was quite positive that she was going to have a challenge, either way. "I am going to demonstrate some of the weaknesses of a ranged weapon, Fujino, prepare."

The sandy-haired woman complied, pulling off the coat that Kruger had lent her and folding it neatly, she set it down on the nearest set of bleachers, next to a small-looking blond girl. She turned on her heel, and faced Nao, her hands loosely gripping the weapon as she moved again to the center of the room. As she reached the center of the circle, drawn on the floor, she commented, "Do you really think that you can hold a candle to me, Nao-san?"

There was something in her tone that terrified Nao.


	9. Combat

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Nine  
**

_AN -About Shizuru and her mad skillz: Think about it. She outruns the bullets that Natsuki shoots at her… she must be pretty fast._

* * *

_Atrium, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

At Fujino's taunting comment, Nao felt her body shudder. She shook off the sensation of panic that came before battling an unknown foe and touched her ear, allowing her robe to fall into place. Gaulderobe did not put much stock on psychological warfare, but there was something in Fujino's tone that set Nao's skin crawling. It was shame that they did not teach the method behind intimidation to the Corals and Pearls. Nao was sure that she could have learned a few things in that class. Techniques that Fujino was now using on her.

It was so unnerving, really.

Nao was used to Viola and her inherent creepiness and ego by now, Fujino was just a little bit more off-putting. Yes, that was it. Nao knew that she had to simply deal with her discomfort, however, as it came as part of the job description. She would not have been named a Column if she had not the ability to cope with the eccentricities of the ruling class and her peers.

Still, she could feel the power radiating from Fujino, who stood before her as calmly as she had that morning – when they'd been hunting through Kruger's closet for clothes.

Blinking, her vision cleared, focusing completely on her goal – she let the claw appear, feeling it fit easily into her fingers, which unconsciously tightened around it as it grew more solid in her grasp.

Fujino, she noticed, as she readied herself for a charge; looked unfazed by what she had done. Her grip was still lazy, her breathing still completely even. Nao found herself feeling rather offended that the blade of Fujino's naginata was still resting on the floor. The girl was far too calm for what she was about to do. A fight with an Otome was something that not many normal humans could handle, and yet Fujino was sitting there as calm as day, watching. It wasn't natural to be that calm before a fight, even Nao could feel her adrenaline kick up, her heart rate accelerating.

Fujino still had not even moved.

Nao held the claw steady in front of her, letting her breathing even out – she would not allow herself to get nervous. Fujino was nothing without a robe, she knew this, but the girl's stoic calm was setting her mind into a flurry of motion that would not slow down. Why wasn't Fujino worried?

Nao surged forward, wondering what Fujino would throw at her first, her hands ready to take out the attack that she knew was coming. Her tactical training told her to expect an upward sweep of Fujino's crimson blade and perhaps a disarming attempt – but Nao was very quickly coming to the realization that Fujino was no ordinary warrior.

_Always try to disarm your opponent, so they cannot get the edge on you. Make the fights quick and painless._ Miss Maria's voice rang in Nao's ears as she pushed her body forward into a full on attack. She readied herself, waiting for the naginata to come forward, to extend into an upward or downward swipe. Nao let her claw fall into the space that Fujino occupied, waiting for the counterattack.

It did not come.

Nao landed in a skid, her boots scraping loudly against the well-worn wooden floor of the Atrium. _Where did she? _Nao looked around franticly, her eyes flicking this way and that, searching for her suddenly absent opponent. In her immediate vision, she could not see the girl, but the faintest sound of shoes hitting floor made Nao pause. _How did she? _

She turned and spun on the spot. _How had Fujino moved that quickly?_ Nao did not think that one of Fujino's age would be able to move that quickly without a thought. It was as if the sandy-haired woman was toying with her, trying to feel out her skill level without actually engaging.

"Over here, Nao-san, came the quiet whisper, drawing Nao's attention behind her, where Fujino had not been just seconds before. It looked, from Nao's limited perspective, as though Fujino had just vanished for the split second when Nao had begun to attack her.

Fujino's smile grew wider, as Nao looked at her in disbelief, and she quietly asked, the naginata for the first time in what Nao could call an offensive position. "Ara, did Nao-san forget that she is not the only one who can jump?"

Nao felt her brow twitch, not wanting to respond to the taunt, but knowing that Fujino was right, she was fighting poorly. Nao supposed that she had been expecting something very different from what Fujino had actually had done. It was unlike Viola to back down from a fight, or to not meet a challenge head-on, so she had expected Fujino to be the same way.

It seemed, however, that Fujino was not.

The naginata flipped up, catching Nao's claw unawares. "It is strange," Fujino began, moving the blade along Nao's claw, "to see Nao-san fight with such a bulky weapon – I always thought that she was more one for mobility, not power."

Nao stepped back, readying her free hand to trigger the razor wires that she usually fought with, the claw being just for show, and for the power that it provided over her usual foes – slaves. Fujino was no slave, but her ability to piss her off was getting to the same level.

-

To the average Coral, the fight looked like two skilled warriors dodging around each other, but it was a good thing that Amela Creon was not average. She had been raised to become the Otome for her younger brother, a high-standing duke of the Altai Principality general assembly. Although she was related by blood to the scandal that had taken place in Windbloom the previous summer – it was not her famliy's choice to be associated with the former Arch-Duke's scheming ways. If Amela had her way, Altai would have never made a move on Windbloom.

She'd been far away from the conflict, however, studying for the Gaulderobe Entrance Exams. When the news had come of her cousin's foolish actions, Amelia did not know how to react. She could not stand the fact that Nagi Dai Altai had taken it upon himself to change the course of history.

So many had died in his name. It was a burden that all citizens of Altai had to carry around on their chests now. Amela hated it.

She was glad that she had not been at Gaulderobe at the time, for she knew that she would have been suspected of passing information to the enemy, even if she herself was not directly connected to them.

"Amela, what do you think of the fight?" The girl to her right asked, noticing how her companion seemed to be intrigued by the demonstration before them. It was never a good idea for Amela to answer these questions, for it was really not her place. She understood the rules of combat better than many of her classmates, as she'd received some military training before coming to school here.

She paused, watching as the girl who looked like Shizuru Viola, but was not – flicked her wrist, sending her glaive upwards, square into Nao's chest. If she had not been wearing a robe, Amela knew that the Column would be dead. "Fujino is far more talented than she lets on." She said insightfully. _Frighteningly so_, She added mentally, but choose to keep her thoughts on that subject to herself.

-

_Gakuenchou's Office, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Natsuki Kruger sighed heavily as she sat down, her desk being the one offering of comfort after the hour-long meeting with Maishiro Blan de Windbloom, and the rest of her palace staff. She hated lying to the girl-queen, but sometimes things were necessary. It was, after all, the head of Gaulderobe's duties to explain the relevance of the ruins that they had inspected the day before, and advise the council on what action to take with regards to the Ruins.

It was difficult, to say the least, to stand before the council and explain what she had seen in the ruins. Out of respect for Yukino Chrysant and the whole of the government of the Republic of Aries, she had left out the major details of the ruins. Instead, Natsuki had kept her brief short and to the point, mentioning only that their mission had been complicated by unforeseen circumstances and that they had had to wrap up their investigation early.

After all, it was too soon to give a definite answer as to the situation at the Katsu Ruins, anyway.

She pulled the stack of papers that Doctor Helene must have dropped off before she'd returned from the meeting. Natsuki sighed, she'd know Youko Helene for almost as long as she'd known Haruka Armitage and Shizuru. Theirs was a life-long friendship that was only now getting overshadowed by the silvers of doubt that hung over their heads because of the Katsu Ruins. Settling herself more comfortably into her chair, Natsuki began to read. Her brow furrowed as she read the note that Youko had clipped to the first page.

_Gakuenchou,  
It seems that your journey to the Katsu Ruins yesterday did go quite how you had planed, if you want to talk to someone, come see me. There's no reason to suffer alone. I'm sure that Chrysant's people will work things out, but you should look at the information that I managed to collect from Fujino Shizuru when Nao brought her in yesterday._

_-YH_

Intrigued, Natsuki flipped open the packet, intently looking at the contents. Everything that Fujino had done, during her forty-five minutes with the scientist and doctor was carefully documented and laid bare for the entire world to see. It was an almost complete character study, along with the questions that Youko had had – the ones that Fujino had avoided answering.

Apparently, the girl had spoken very little of her home, and when asked about it, had avoided the question with feigned interest in the politics of the country that had suddenly found its self playing host to her. Natsuki's eyebrow rose, wondering what was so horrible about wherever Fujino came from that she could not bring herself to speak of it. It was the sort of thing that only those of a war-ravaged nation would do; avoid speaking about the home they were suddenly pulled away from.

_Rescued_ from, even.

She stood; a resolute gleam in her eyes. If she had lost the steady support of her life - only to have it replaced by this girl, so obviously hiding many things about her life; she was going to make sure that she had some sort of positive influence on the girl. It was, after all, the least that she could do.

Heading out of her office with a sweep of her coat, Natsuki Kruger failed to notice the other notes on the page – the ones that pointed to the varying signs that Fujino Shizuru was not, as it were, 'all there.' Perhaps it was for the best, as Kruger was never one to notice the small details anyway, she had grown up in ignorance to a great many things – all of which came back to haunt her later in life.

Hanging a sharp left, Kruger made her way towards the Atrium where the weapons classes were taught. Nao and Fujino were supposed to be teaching there, and Natsuki hoped that she would be able to catch a glimpse of the girl in action before the 'fight' ended. She did not think that Fujino would hold much contest against Nao, but Nao had been right to want to assess the newcomer's abilities.

It was just a shame that Natsuki had not thought to do that herself, perhaps she might have actually gone easy on Fujino. Nao, Natsuki was certain, would not.

The air was hot and still, the late-autumn sun beat down, heating up the city far more than was usual for that time of year. Taking a moment, just outside of the Atrium, Natsuki took a deep breath; inhaling the scent of the place she loved. She had been away so much this year, first fleeing her home, and then on a diplomatic mission to Florence, lasting many long weeks.

It was strange how a country almost as far north as her own could cause such a stir, plus, with the new treaties with Aswald, Natsuki barely found a moment to herself anymore. It was strange for her, the fourth child of an unimportant duke in the far north – to suddenly have the power that she now commanded.

Gakuenchou of Gaulderobe was a higher position than even her great uncle – one of the three ruling dukes of the entirety of Kruger County.

She shook her head, to clear it – her own story did not matter right now. All that mattered was reaching out to someone who needed their loved one, almost as much as she needed her Shizuru back.

She pushed open the door, shaking her head slightly; President Chrysant's people would take care of the Katsu Ruins; for Yukino was a good friend and a great ally.

"Gakuenchou!" One of the Corals shouted, jerking Natsuki out of her musings. The older woman let her eyes survey the scene before her with the practiced ease of one well accustomed to looking at the minute details – the ones that Kruger herself was so famed for missing.

It had seemed that the 'demonstration' had gotten out of control, for Nao was pinned against a wall, Fujino standing over her, with a look of utmost contempt on her face.

"Shizuru!" Natsuki shouted, rushing forward, prying the weapon out of her hand, "What are you doing?"

Fujino's eyes were blank as she stared back at Kruger, mute. There were no words that needed to be spoken, for the unspoken bond that Natsuki and her Shizuru shared seemed to exist between her and this strange, new girl. _I'm sorry Natsuki, I'm sorry._


	10. The Katsu Ruins

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Ten  
**

_AN - At Silent E – MMm I hope they're chocolate Scooby snacks, that would rock my world. _

_Yes, Shizuru's a little bit more broken that I originally hinted on, but I went back and fixed the many continuity mistakes, so it flows a little better now. Oh yes. _

_Yes, Viola's showing up as a HiME, I really wanna do Natsuki waking up in the morning and poking Viola with her foot… like ... Voldie in Harry Potter Four, FOOTRAPE, ZOMG! _

_And your reaction is good, Viola just has to get to the ruins of her time and… 'touch the rock'. Oh yes, that would make so much sense. _

_Damn ancient artifacts – but your idea is the same as mine about the HiME/Otome connections. It totally makes loads of sense. Let the knife twisting begin! _

_And the last scene was totally Setenshi's fault. DAMN HER AND HER REALLY GOOD IDEAS. Credit to her for the idea, but I wrote it out... _

_this is the final version, I SWEAR!_

* * *

_Infirmary, Gaulderobe, Windbloom _

Juliet Nao Zhang stared at the wall outside of the infirmary, hard. She was silently fuming, wanting to know how it was humanly possible for the events of the past two hours to have happened. She wanted someone to take credit for the violent and completely unprovoked beating she'd received at the hands of Fujino Shizuru. There was no one running up to her shouting that this was all some grand joke for a reality television program; it was simply a grim reality.

Nao had been defeated for being too cocky for her own good. She should have seen the latent talent in Fujino's attitude from the start. She was a fool to have missed it, really.

The fight had happened too quickly for Nao to have a real assessment as to what had actually taken place. One minute it seemed as though Fujino was perfectly fine with playing along with Nao's well-planned lesson; the next, Nao wasn't quite sure. A few comments and taunts, as was expected in a match between Meisters had been all it had taken to send the girl into a rage unlike any that Nao had ever seen before. It was as if Fujino was just barely holding onto her sanity as it was, if a simple jab about 'Natsuki' sent her over the edge.

Oh yes, Nao was quite positive that Fujino Shizuru just a little bit psychotic.

Nao shook her head, not that Fujino's mental state really mattered – it was as though the girl had not even been sane upon entering this world. There were little hints, Nao realized, the more she pondered the matter; simple clues and the central obsession on Natsuki of her world – Kuga Natsuki.

The girl had collapsed into Kruger's arms not long after the Gakuenchou had run into the practice hall. Her sudden appearance had been enough to startle Fujino into realizing what she had done. She'd stopped attacking after that, and Nao had been rather grateful to Kruger for coming in and saving her ass.

After Fujino had collapsed, Kruger had carried the girl to the infirmary and had left Nao to guard her in case she woke up. Nao was resentful of the fact that Kruger thought that she would even want to be anywhere near Fujino after what had just happened. They had to be sure that there was someone who could fend off Fujino if she did wake up before the older woman could return with Doctor Helene and the appropriate drugs to sedate Fujino.

Sedate her until they could decide what to do.

Nao had no doubt in her mind that Fujino would have killed her without Kruger's intervention, but at the same time, it irked her that now Kruger had left her in charge of the girl. Left her in charge of Fujino even though she had already proven that even a Column of Gaulderobe had no where near enough power to match up to the almost-berserker style of Fujino Shizuru.

"Youko, I really think that you should reconsider the morphine, I just want to calm her down." Kruger's voice could be heard from around the corner. Nao shook her head, this was still Shizuru, after all, and, like it or not, Natsuki Kruger was attached to the girl in ways that Nao lacked even the basic comprehension to understand.

-

_Executive Offices, The Hexagon, _ _Aries__Republic_

President Yukino Chrysant sat at her desk, she was completely exhausted and the fatigue of being awake for far too many hours was starting to show in the dark hollows under her eyes. She was putting on a brave face, and trying to look as important and powerful as she could – smiling a pleasant and professional smile at the two women sitting opposite her.

She did not know either of them well enough to greet them by name, but she knew the two of them by reputation, and from Kruger and Haruka's stories. She nodded respectfully to them, and waited for Maya, Sara or even Haruka to introduce them to her. In her distant memory, she recalled the red-haired girl, from back at her time in Windbloom; but her name eluded even Yukino's near-perfect memory. Turning her expectant eyes towards Haruka, she waited for her Otome to introduce her.

Instead of identification of a foreign national and, if Yukino's memory served, member of the ranking nobility of some distant country; the first thing that came out of Haruka Armitage's mouth was, "Why did you run away?"

One of the women in front of Yukino flushed a deep red, while the other; glared daggers at both herself and Haruka. Yukino glanced at her Otome and realized that she was completely ignorant of the look she was receiving. Oh, what it must be like to see the world the way Haruka did. Everything must seem so simple.

"Haruka-sempai, don't you have more important things to be attending to right now?" The red-haired girl asked, a gentle smile on her face, but Yukino caught the twinkle in her eye, and smiled knowingly – for the girl was just teasing. She would have had to take offence, had the woman not been teasing. There were simply things that you did not say to an Otome in the presence of their Master, and the redhead's comment was dangerously close to downright rude.

Haruka blushed and stiffened almost immediately, "I'm sorry Yukino, may I present Tokiha Mai and her master, the _Cat God_ Mikoto?" Haruka said the smaller woman's title as though she did not really believe it to be true.

Yukino smiled warmly at the still blushing Otome, "Thank you Haruka." Folding her hands in front of her, in what she could only assume was a business-like manner, Yukino nodded respectfully to the women. "It's good to see you again, Mai, it's been a while, hasn't it?" She turned to face the younger girl, and smiled gently, "I'm pleased to meet you, Mikoto. My name is Yukino Chrysant, and I'd like to personally welcome you to the Republic of Aries."

The girl with the red hair – Mai, grinned and said, "It's nice to see you again, and meet the President of Aries in person, President Chrysant. I've heard a lot about you from Haruka-sempai and from Sara on our journey here." She turned to the other girl and added, "Mikoto and I are glad to be here."

The spiky-haired girl nodded emphatically, making enthusiastic noises to prove it.

"That's good because we're glad to have you in such a crisis." Yukino's tone was now slightly more business-like, as she continued, "We are missing a Column of Gaulderobe, who vanished around the recently discovered Ruins, just on our boarder with Altai."

Mikoto frowned, muttering darkly to herself, "The Katsu Ruins? That wouldn't make any sense; they were destroyed in the last carnival."

Yukino's eyes slid over to meet her Otome's gaze, the unspoken words coming almost unbidden to the surface, bubbling slowly up – _Would they really be the same ones, if even this girl could not remember them? _Pushing a file folder across the table, Yukino said grimly, "Sara mentioned that you knew of some pre-Twelve Kingdoms War Ruins - can you see if these are the Ruins that Sara told you about?"

-

_Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe _

The bedroom seemed empty as Kruger led the still silent Fujino towards the couch, pushing the girl down onto the blankets still left from where Nao had slept the night before. The girl sat, avoiding Natsuki's eyes, fiddling with the hem of her shirt, anything to avoid looking at the older woman.

"Shizuru, what do you have against Nao?" Natsuki asked, sitting down on the coffee table, their knees just barely touching. It was strange to see the youth in this girl's eyes, and the pain.

There was so much pain just barely hidden behind that smile, the expression that Kruger had taken the time to perfect the art of reading – for Shizuru Viola had been the same way, when she was younger. She knew the smile, and everything that twinkled in those russet-hued eyes, could mask any emotion. It was a mask, a fake smile to hide the pain that the girl was so clearly in.

Fujino's hair fell over her eyes, veiling her expression as she turned away from Natsuki, finding herself unable to meet the woman's eyes. It was different from the pain that she felt when she looked at the Natsuki of her world; this pain was filled with the fear of not meeting the expectations of this woman – so like her Natsuki, and yet, so very, very different. "It's none of your concern, Natsuki."

Kruger looked away from the girl, feeling her brow beginning to twitch; she was unused to seeing Shizuru act like this, for Shizuru Viola had not acted like this since her graduation from Gaulderobe, some ten years previous to the present day. It annoyed her that this girl _just_ _didn't want to tell her_. What was wrong with her, not letting her emotions show, always keeping them masked behind that fake smile and unfeeling eyes? Natsuki Kruger knew, perhaps better than anyone, what it felt to hide her emotions – and how the few emotions that were shone were a simple plea, for love, for attention, for anything.

She took a deep breath, and asked, perhaps more forcefully than she had intended, "Why did you attack Nao?"

The girl before her still did not look at her, but the response came flippantly, as if Shizuru thought that it was a pointless question to even ask. Even still, Natsuki could hear the faint smile that the girl's sandy-colored mane of hair obscured from her vision. "Nao-san asked me to attack her, to prove a point. I just did what she asked me to."

"I doubt that she asked you to back her into a corner and hold her life on the edge of your blade, the way you did." Natsuki retorted, standing up and stalking over to the wall to contemplate the photographs on the wall – taking in the better times with Viola, when everything had made sense.

"I swore to you, Natsuki; that I would remove everything that stood in your way." Shizuru said quietly, standing herself and walking to stand beside Natsuki, a tentative hand rising to touch the older woman's arm. _It is not her_, Natsuki had to repeat again and again inside her head, for fear of letting herself slip.

"The Nao in your world is my enemy?" Natsuki asked, wondering if she had finally found a way to get Fujino to open up.

Shizuru was silent, her eyes darting over the pictures, suddenly far more interested in them than she had been a moment ago. Feigning interest, in order to avoid talking about her world, again; Natsuki remembered Youko mentioning this in the report that she had written up.

"Is she, Shizuru?" Natsuki asked again, touching the hand on her arm, grasping the fingers, remembering suddenly the way it felt to touch another, to feel the touch of the woman, that, in one way or another, was her lover – just, rather different.

No answer.

Natsuki's brow furrowed; and she pulled on Fujino's hand, maneuvering the girl into the corner, a hand firmly on her chin, so the girl could not avoid her gaze any longer. "Tell me, Shizuru, what is so horrible about the world you came from that you cannot even speak of it?" The girl, looked at her with pitiful eyes, their russet hue the same as Natsuki's own love – it was so tempting to lean down and kiss her gently, to kiss the pain way.

_Come to think of it_, Natsuki thought, as Fujino regarded her silently. Brown on Emerald, a battle of wills, _Perhaps; it isn't such a bad idea, maybe she'll open up for me_._ Shizuru would understand, I think. _

The girl wrenched her chin away, her eyes becoming down cast as she stared at the floor to the left of Natsuki's shoe. The silence built, slowly climbing in volume before it became unbearable – a deafening lack of noise, a mute contest, neither side wanting to hurt the other, not wanting to loose either.

"Natsuki, I-" Fujino began, tears beginning to show in her eyes.

Deftly, Natsuki ran her fingers down the girl's cheek, smoothing away the tears, tilting the girl's chin upwards, and leaning in for the kiss she knew she could no longer deny herself. She could feel Fujino stiffen under her, the girl's grip on her arm becoming more intense as their lips met.

Shizuru's hands found their way into Natsuki's hair almost instantly, as the older woman pushed her into the wall, their bodies pressing together, all the frustration and anger of the day pouring out from the union of their lips.

And, for that moment, at least, Fujino Shizuru was in heaven.

It was strange, for Natsuki, to feel the inexperience in Shizuru's actions. Her movement was awkward and did not blend as well as Natsuki and Shizuru Viola's actions usually did. But it was every bit as passionate, this gentle, innocent probing – exploring for the first time, the taste of this mouth – the subject of so many girlish fantasies.

A gentle moan into Kruger's mouth warned the older woman that she might have traveled too far, that her actions would have repercussions, that she should stop before she dug herself a hole so deep that she could not crawl out of. But this innocence, the love that Natsuki had not tasted in so long, the curiosity, instead of the knowledge, it was intoxicating.

It was different, and yet, in the back of her mind, Natsuki knew that she had experienced it all before, when she was every bit as nervous as the girl under her was.

_It's not cheating,_ Natsuki thought, pulling the girl's hands out of her hair, pinning them to the wall, just above her head, _They're__the same person. _

The situation was growing more heated, as Natsuki pushed the girl who looked so much like her lover further into the wall. It was wonderful to be with someone who would not fight her for dominance, refreshing to get the responses she got with a simple quiver of lips, of a gentle stroke of the tongue.

A soft gasp, out from behind the gentle lips pressed against her own, told Kruger that she needed to back off, for there was only so much that anyone could take. She let the hand holding Fujino's hands out of the way slowly fall to caress the girl's cheek as she pulled away, taking in the girl's features, noting with contentment the rosy-colored blush on her cheeks.

A moment passed, and then another, before Natsuki asked again, "What do you have against the Nao of your world? Shizuru, please tell me." _I won't hold it against you._

The girl closed her eyes sadly, and looked away one more time, choosing to refuse Kruger the answer she was searching for. "This is not real. I will wake up back where I left, with Natsuki acting like my enemy, and my world falling apart. All I need to do is wake up."

Natsuki leaned in, placing another gentle, caste kiss on the girl's lips, "I'm sorry, Shizuru, but this is reality."

-

Elsewhere  
_(Fuuka__Academy__, Outer Campus _ _Tea-House__Japan)_

Kuga Natsuki woke with a start, a sudden feeling of dread lodging itself deep within her stomach. She did not know why she suddenly felt so afraid, but it was as if everything in the world that she held dear to her was suddenly absent.

It was a shaking feeling, one that was quickly washed over by another – anger.

Shizuru had really messed everything up. She wasn't supposed to be a HiME; she wasn't supposed to kill Kikugawa's child right before their eyes. And she most certainly was not supposed to have done whatever it was that Suzushiro had insulated she'd done.

Fujino Shizuru would not do something like that, not to her. Natsuki would not believe it to be true.

Yet it was true. Natsuki could remember the gentle touch of Shizuru's lips on her own, the feeling of desperation behind her touch. Shizuru had gone from bad to worse when Natsuki had refused to let her touch her.

Natsuki gathered up fists of her futon's comforter and cursed quietly, "Why did you have to do that?" She demanded. Because of Shizuru, Duran would not come.

Because Natsuki did not know how she felt about Shizuru's proclamation of life and adoration.

She concentrated on her fist, willing her element into life. It took a far greater effort than Natsuki was used to, but eventually the cool metal of the gun fell into her hand. She gripped it tightly, knowing that should Shizuru fall into contact with any of the other HiME, it was _her_ life on the line.

Natsuki was not sure she liked that.

She rolled over and found a pile of neatly folded clothes at the foot of her bed. A pair of faded and well-loved jeans that she could have sworn she'd thrown out after the third tear to the bass and a dark blue t-shirt.

There was a note with the clothes, Natsuki picked it up and flipped it over, curious as to what was written on it. She was greeted with the faint scent of lilac and a very familiar and businesslike hand:

_Do not worry; I will take care of Natsuki's problem. I am sorry you had to find out that way, it was not how I'd intended it. _

"Damn her." Natsuki sat up and angrily pulled at the kimono she'd been wearing the day before. She'd been so sad after Shizuru had killed Kikugawa's child in her name; she simply fled back inside.

She'd cried herself to sleep like a child, only to have Shizuru return and comfort her one more, it seemed.

Untying the obi and shrugging the outer robe off of her shoulders, Natsuki picked up the t-shirt and sniffed it. It smelled of fire and of blood, but it appeared to be mostly clean. Natsuki did not want to know where the smell had come from. It was better, sometimes, to just not ask these things.

She would go to Mai.

Mai would perhaps understand what this sick empty feeling was in her stomach.

The feeling that Shizuru was completely gone from this world.


	11. The Coming Storm

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Eleven  
**

_AN - Wow. Alright, must not bring resolution to that anytime soon. _

_Let's just let that happen. _

_Silent E – awu… Yes, you do have Setenshi to thank for that, but I wrote it, so, by all means, send more snacks. And yes, Kruger is a little obsessed… and I WILL NOT CRASH AND BURN. _

_I just won't bring any resolution. _

_Credit to Setenshi for being amazing and helping me fuck with teh Kruger/Fujino some more… Oh yes. There is so much more to this than it seems._

* * *

_The Katsu Ruins, Altai-Aries Border _

Inside the long-forgotten ruins, a lone figure moved through the caverns, a thoughtfully pensive look on her face. It had been a long time since she had dared to let her memory flow this far back in time. Far longer than perhaps was reasonable. This was a part of her history, moreso than anyone else in this current shadow of the past world. She had been one of the ones who created the story these ruins told, and now it was up to her to prevent this story from ever happening again. The cycle had fallen out of style, as it were. It still happened, but the magnitude was never what it had been during the times when she had fought it. The souls were older now, tired of the constant cycle of death and rebirth.

She trailed a long finger over the paintings on the walls, recognizing things that she sometimes wished she could forget entirely. Those memories were painful, far too painful for any one individual to carry them around for the countless centuries that she had. There was the sign of the phoenix, the snake and the wolf, the spider; even her own, slightly less recognizable symbol had been painted upon these walls.

These paintings did not depict the epic of The Twelve-Kingdoms War, however. These were the events of the last time that twelve maidens had gathered in the Land of Fuuka, and she knew these events well. The Twelve-Kingdoms War had been a tragic abuse of the HiME power, and the world had suffered greatly because of it. This was different, these images showed a far greater battle. The battle for love and life itself.

The Twelve-Kingdoms War was still a carnival, but in that time, it was not been a Kagatsuchi user that had emerged victorious. Instead, one of the weakest HiME had finally had something worth fighting and dying for. When Fumi Himeno had finally confronted the Lord of Darkness, in defense of her master, the very Queen of Hell – Mikoto had thought for sure that the cycle was broken forever.

Still, it seemed to the entity called Mikoto that Himeno's spirit was back from the dead, once again, simply to mock her. It was not Mikoto's job to assume the role of the 'teacher'. A post usually held for the spirit that lay dormant within the already rather insane Nagi Dai Altai. She did not want to be the one to fill Nagi's shoes, especially now that she was the overseer to his eternal punishment. She did not think it was possible to live through the number of consecutive life sentences that the former archduke now had on his head, anyway. He would die in her care before he came to remember his devotion to the Obsidian Lord.

To Ani-ue.

Mikoto shook her head, knowing that even that spirit was long dead now. She would do better to just forget everything about that time, for it was so long in the past that nothing she did or said could change what had already happened. Exhaling quietly, she moved her hands over the pictures, naming the children as she passed them, "Miroko, Kagatsuchi, Duran, Kiyohime, Diana, Julia…" The list seemed endless, but soon her fingers rested on something that she had not seen in the Twelve Kingdoms War, something that all together drove her from her reverie.

"Artemis…" She intoned quietly, wondering how long it would take the M.I.Y.U unit to realize that something was amiss and that her lady was in danger once again. If Artemis was present, it meant that the Sears line was once again threatened – that once again, M.I.Y.U and perhaps others; would have to surge forward to prevent the inevitable arrival of the destructive force of the child, Artemis.

"Mikoto?" Mai questioned, leaning over and waving a hand in front of the cat-god's face, confusion clearly written over her features. Miktoto did not want to scare her, did not want to ask her if she had discovered any strange marks on her body – she did not want to think that it could be beginning again. A HiME's presence in this world could be easily explained away, but the events that would be set in motion by her presence were far-reaching and very terrifying.

She could not allow them to take place, for the consequences of such actions were monumental.

Mikoto had lived a long time, feigning ignorance, until the very person she had least expected to see fell back into her life.

Tokiha Mai, running from everything that she did not understand in the world, had fallen into one of the traps that she had set up the catch the few wild animals that seemed to find their way into her well-hidden home. She was everything that Mikoto remembered, and then more, her personality making even the grim days of recalling everything, and yet being unable to speak of it, bearable.

"I did not expect to see this," Mikoto traced the hook-like symbol with a finger, moving along the contours and trying not to sound too frightened. "And if this is what you have discovered, perhaps you'd care to enlighten me as to why the snake and wolf painting is glowing so brightly, in comparison to the other symbols."

"That was where - " Maya began,

"Viola-san - " President Chrysant interjected.

"Touched the wall," Haruka finished, her arms folded. Mikoto remembered the rather forceful Suzushiro's constant wars with Fujino Shizuru and was not at all surprised that the Haruka of this world also had a rather comical rivalry with Shizuru. Haruka looked as though she could not believe that Mikoto knew more about the Twelve-Kingdoms War than the Professor they'd called in as an expert.

With a rather disdainful look at Mikoto, Haruka reiterated, "That was where Shizuru touched the wall."

"Shizuru?" Mikoto asked, looking surprised. The name to her meant only one thing, a deepening feeling of fear. Her dread building, she raised her head and looked the President of the Republic of Aries directly in the eye, "Tell me, did anything happen when Shizuru Viola touched this particular image?"

Chrysant nodded, her head slightly bowed in shame and tiredness. "When she touched the wall, she vanished, to be replaced by another woman, this one called herself…"

"Fujino Shizuru." Mikoto finished, feeling sick to her stomach. The most legendary girl, the one who would have won the carnival the past three times, if had not been for her dedication to one other – Kruger, Kuga.

Natsuki.

The Gakuenchou of Gaulderobe was in for the ride of her life, if this really was true. Mikoto just hoped that the girl that had appeared was not as crazy as she remembered Fujino Shizuru being.

The feeling of dread grew, as Mikoto again looked at the images. This had been the shrine, where the clock had once rested – not to far away from the land of Fuuka. They would need to move quickly before one misguided action would send their whole world into chaos.

There were not twelve maidens to take on the burden of Fuuka, for neither Himeno nor the Nagi as Mikoto remembered him had yet to make an appearance in this world. If the Ruins did what she thought they did, there would be nothing that would be able to save this earth from the fate it was in store for.

"We must move quickly," She said, raising her eyes to meet the inquisitive gaze of the President. "For the fate of the world rests on returning that girl to her own world. The Ruins, as you have seen them, are the symbol of a war that the world is not quite ready for."

-

_Gakuenchou's Study, Gaulderobe _

It was late at night, and the halls of Gaulderobe were blissfully quiet and free of the idle chatter that filled the days, as the Coral and Pearl students wandered their way through them. Still, the silence provided some solace against the troubled thoughts that had plagued Juliet Nao Zhang ever since her confrontation with Fujino that morning. She was confused and disturbed by the girl's actions.

No human in their right mind could possess that much power.

Fujino Shizuru, it turned out, was far more skilled than she seemed. Nao certainly had never seen an _Otome_ fight with that much skill, much less a regular human being. As they watched Doctor Helene examine the girl, looking for any other signs of trauma, Kruger had mentioned that she had once seen Midori, the leader of Aswald fight that way.

However, even that had been because of hijacked nanotechnology, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, which would hint to the amount of power that Fujino Shizuru managed to contain within her small form. It thoroughly bewildered Nao, leaving her confused as to how she was brushed aside as if it was no big deal.

She passed the door to Kruger's office, the light shining through the door causing her to pause, and peer through the door. "Gakuenchou?" She called, sticking her head around the door, expecting to see Kruger sitting at her desk, plowing through a pile of paperwork.

There was no one inside the spacious office, the light had just been left on – and a simple glance out the window told Nao that Kruger had gone home for the evening.

She reached under the lamp, intending to turn it off, when she noticed the file still open on the principal's desk. She paused and read the recognizable handwriting, taking in what the neat legal ledger said.

It seemed that Nao was not the only one who thought that their guest had some potential to be a complete sociopath, if given the chance. Here, laid bare, were the thoughts that Doctor Helene had had on the subject. It seemed that the girl's keen interest in this world had been a well-laid mask of her own mental state – she refused to speak of her own world.

_Well, that was not entirely true,_ Nao thought, _she did tell me all about her Kuga, and about her school. She said nothing of herself, however –_ She allowed her thoughts to trail off, her eyes running down the page.

Perhaps, it was time to get the information that they needed, in another way. She flipped off the light and reached for the phone, keying in the well-known number, waiting for a pick up.

"It's me." She said, listening to the happy greeting on the other end. It was true; her contact was living in a large manor in the middle of nowhere. It made sense that the contact would be happy to hear from her. Nao moved her finger down the page. "What do you know about doppelgangers?"

-

_Master Bedroom, Gakuenchou's Quarters, Gaulderobe_

This was not real; she knew this to be true. Everything in this world was a complete figment of her imagination. She knew she was lost, broken and alone – she'd sinned so much only to be thrown into this completely alien place. Everything here was so unbelievable that she _had_ to be dreaming it.

Eventually, her mind would tire of its game, and she would awake once more, covered in the blood of hundreds with the knowledge that she would have to do everything in her power to protect Natsuki from that damned carnival. She shuddered, knowing that Natsuki would never forgive her for what had happened that night, what Shizushiro and Kikugawa had accidentally stumbled upon.

What Shizuru had had to kill Shizushiro for revealing.

_ Kikugawa-san_, she thought quietly, wondering how Shizushiro had ever become her most precious person; the very presence of that woman was abrasive and trying on the nerves. _I truly am sorry that you were there, but you got in the way, and Haruka-san ruined everything – and now Natsuki hates me, she hates me._

Lips possessively over hers, her hands out of her control, the pressing feeling of pleasure.

She shook her head violently, staring at the sleeping form next to her; _They're not the same person. Kruger-san is so different, so much more powerful, so self-assured. She is not Natsuki, she never was._

Kruger moved in her sleep, an arm snaking out and encircling around her waist – Shizuru gasped as she found herself pulled closer to the woman's slumbering form. This was a cruel game, Shizuru knew that. The love that this woman (who clearly was not Natsuki) felt for Shizuru Viola was something that Natsuki would never expend on her. She was unworthy of the love after everything she'd done.

They had fallen back onto the bed, Kruger's annoyance had been clear, for her movements got more aggressive. Shizuru had a fleeting moment, realizing that even if this was a dream, she should still be able just tell the dream-Natsuki that she was sorry. To practice making amends before she tried the real thing, it seemed like a good idea.

Weight on her chest, a body on top of hers, the pressure was so comforting. _Aren't I supposed to be on top?_ Lips on her neck, things progressing perhaps to far – for neither were in control. A harsh whisper, begging her again to simply tell the truth, to open up, to admit her sin.

She would not. It was not the right time. She was not ready to state the sin, to say she was a sinner. _With these gentle and stained hands,_ She had thought, pushing Kruger away.

"I can't." She had said, turning away. "Perhaps if Natsuki gave me time?"

She rolled into Kruger's embrace, enjoying the warmth on the cool autumn night, taking in the scent of the woman. It was a fragrance, Shizuru realized, that she knew very well. A mixture of exhaust fumes and lightly fruity shampoo – as well as something else, which she was never able to place. A cologne perhaps, or perfume, she had never been able to find its likeness. She breathed in deeply, reminded of her own Natsuki, a fond smile growing on her face as she burrowed further into the woman's embrace. _They smell the same way, Natsuki and Kruger-san. But…_ She inhaled again, making sure she was correct, _Kruger-san does smell a little more than Natsuki does… in a good way._

Her face, quickly buried into the crook of the older woman's neck, warmed at the intimacy. She leaned forward, her lips just barely touching the pulse point – whispering a promise, silently worded, but very clear. She would try, try for this Natsuki, and try to absolve her sin.

Her lips reached forward, laying the barest of feather-light touches upon the woman's neck, before hastily retreating to their resting place – cradled in an embrace that tightened as soon as Shizuru's lips had touched the older woman. It was nice, to lie here, to be embraced, to know that she was right in being here.

As she drifted off to sleep, Kruger's weight shifted again, trapping Shizuru between her arms and legs in an almost primal like embrace. Neither noticed, however, for each was content with the minimal comfort that the other offered.


	12. Another Side

_**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins - Chapter Twelve  
**_

_**AN - **_I'm sitting here, wrapped up in a sheet and scant little else, trying to write more of this. Stupid Katsu, stupid HiME, stupid everything! Arruuug.

**Lovely Bloodied Rose** – I'm glad you liked the story enough to review – it's a good thing.

**Silent E** – Pleasure may be the bait of sin, but sin it's self perpetuates it's self. Shizuru is far from out of the woods yet, and with Mikoto raising holy hell in Aries it makes sense that this will be over before she can truly let go of her sin and openly admit it to Kruger.

**Setenshi** **- **Some of this is your brain child, others are not, but you rock in either way – because you make me write things that are… fun. And yes, that chapter will be written, eventually. Credit and cookies for you.

**Illusar** – Yeah, I was kinda shocked when that popped out of my brain, but hell, it did and now it's there to stay. After all Fumi was the one who single-handedly ended the Twelve Kingdoms War.

Everyone else – Fum, I can't say anything about the HiME world, except that there may be another glimpse into that world, eventually. Just not now.

* * *

_Presidential Suite, The Hexagon, _ _Aries_ _Republic_

Dawn broke, and with it came the almost inevitable feeling of beginning once more. The sun rose on its arching path across the midsummer sky as the staff of the president's residence began to stir and come to life.

Theirs was a peaceful existence, every morning waking with the sun to start the day and get the process of international politics moving once more. The president herself was allowed a few moments more of sleep than most of her general staff, but she too work early in the morning so as to take part in the morning's events.

Yukino Chrysant's vision was blurry as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. She yawned broadly, her hand just barely making it up to cover her mouth in time, and tiredly detangled her body from the limbs of the other occupant of her bed. It was far too early in the morning for the Brigadier General to be stirring; and Yukino intended to let the calm of sleep occupy her Otome for as long as possible before the added panic of this day came to pass.

After the conversation that Yukino had had the night before, she had slept very poorly. The panic of the events connected to the Katsu Ruins had set in fully when that princess for Zipang and her _friend_ had come to inspect the ruins. That girl had known more about what was going on in the Katsu Ruins than any of the scholars that Yukino had contacted with regards to the current crisis of a missing Meister Otome and column of Gaulderobe. As it was, Yukino was quite sure that whatever sleep that she and Haruka could get would be vital to Aries' conduct during the coming days.

Yawning again, this time more broadly, Yukino leaned over and kissed the nose of her Otome, currently sprawled over far more than her allotted half of the bed. "Haruka," She whispered, her lips again falling to kiss the woman's cheek. "It's time to wake up."

That, to be honest, was a bit of a lie. The clock on the bedside table read only five thirty, giving them a good hour and a half before they were supposed to make their grand appearance at the breakfast hall, along with the rest of her staff – to share their first meal of the day; as was the custom. Yukino just wanted as much time as she could get with Haruka before the inevitable complexity of their combined work days pulled them apart until the wee hours of the morning.

Haruka stirred, and rolled over, sleepily opening her eyes as her hands searched for Yukino's absent body. The hand groped around for a moment, feeling the bed, and under the pillow. Abruptly, Haruka sat up, "Yukino?" She called, her eyes darting around the room, only stopping when they finally rested on the other occupant, perched neatly on the edge of the bed, a gentle smile on her bespectacled face.

"Good morning, love." Yukino leaned over and kissed Haruka on the lips, a gentle kiss that reminded the woman on better times – when the fate of the world did not rest on the shoulders of a few chosen individuals.

Haruka's reaction had been typical; it made a lot of sense for her to be terrified when she could not find her charge after waking from sleep. Haruka was nothing if not a dedicated bodyguard, and she was always the first to take care of whatever security detail was necessary for the president of Aries. Yukino was ashamed to admit that she did not want to risk loosing Haruka's companionship when her term as president ended. They were too close for an Otome and master, and they both knew it.

Their love was like a drug, and neither was willing to admit that they perhaps should back off a little before something happened to either of them.

"'Morning." Haruka said shortly, turning her nose up as she rubbed her eyes. It was far too early in the morning to be awakened, but it was her duty as an Otome to awaken when her master did. Although, she dearly could have used a few more minutes of blissful oblivion. "Why so early?" She trailed off, noting the look in Yukino's face.

"I'm afraid, Haruka." Yukino admitted. She didn't like to show weakness, but as she scooted herself closer to her Otome, feeling as though the woman could protect her from anything. "I'm afraid that if what Tokiha's friend Mikoto said is true, that we have a lot to fear for right now."

Haruka looked away, she too had thought about the consequences of their exploits into the Katsu Ruins. To her, it was not worth the fate of the world, or to even suggest such a thing without the reasoning behind it that she knew – without a doubt, that the Bubuzuke woman was again, even when not _technically_ present in the world, messing everything up. She smiled, turning her eyes back to her charge, her lover, "Don't worry, Yukino, I'm sure that everything will be alright. All we have to do is take that poster-"

"Poser, Haruka-chan." Yukino corrected automatically, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"and send her back to where she came from – and everything will go back to normal." Haruka finished, not even fazed by the fact that she had misspoken again. She was fairly passive when it came to Yukino correcting her, but it was a learned passivity that Yukino knew she had come to take for granted. There had been a time, long before, when Haruka had stubbornly protested against every correction that Yukino had made to her speech.

It was only with time, as these things often go, that they were able to accept each other as who they were and nothing else. The world was falling down around them, and yet they kept at each other as they usually did. Nothing, not even the flow of time, could separate them.

Yukino nodded but kept her eyes down cast, so Haruka could not see them. There was far more to this than Haruka let on – the risks of the conflict that Mikoto spoke of, the Twelve Kingdoms War, all over again. Yukino was not sure that she wanted to risk starting another conflict like that. Mikoto had told her many times the previous night that it was not her fault that this had happened, but the implication of having the ruins at fault within your country's boarders tended to make the eyes of the political world think otherwise.

Sighing, she fell back onto the bed, there was too much at stake this time, she would not fight the conflict if it came – she knew she wouldn't. She shook herself, not knowing where those thoughts were coming from. It was almost as if she was already programmed to react to this conflict.

She leaned down, scratching her right arm, just below her elbow – it was itching for some reason. She wasn't sure what to make of that, running her hands over the covered area of her arm.

_Must have gotten a bug bite last night,_ She mused.

-

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom _

Nao was awakened by the soft rustling sounds of someone else in the room with her. It had been a long time since she had had a roommate and the sound of someone else moving about in her space bothered her greatly. As slowly and carefully as she could, she inched her hand under the pillow to where the knife that she'd been given by the leader of Aslwad lay. She could never be too careful, and as she opened her eyes into slits, she found herself staring at a figure that she had not seen in nearly six months.

Nina Wang had not changed that much, save for a haircut that made her look years older and a form of dress that was far more suited to her native Altai than to the hot arid climate of Windbloom.

Nao groaned and let the knife fall from her fingers. She did not want to wake up, it was far too early for any sort of conversation like the one Nine would most likely be expecting to have with her. Shaking her head, she rolled over, alerting the intruder to her wakefulness and presence.

"Nao! Time to get up!" The nerve of that girl, Nao groaned loudly as Nina's cheerful voice filled the room with happy butterflies and kittens and everything else that Nao wanted _nothing_ to do with until several cups of caffeinated substance later. She burrowed deeper under the covers, the bruises that she had acquired the previous day warning her that moving was not the best idea. Hell, she bad bruises in places that she didn't even know _existed_. Curse that woman - she would get her revenge.

"Huzzwhut?" Nao said sleepily, grinning like a cat as she turned over once again, meeting the eyes of her former room-attendant. She had to pretend that she wasn't a good Otome, just the lazy, yet brilliant, student of Kruger's. It was all a ruse, yes, but it was one that Nao thought was better to simply maintain than break. Nina was the last person that she would ever show weakness to, anyway. "'Morning Nina."

"Irina told me that you got rather banged up yesterday, are you alright?" Nina asked genuine concern in her russet-colored eyes.

_They're the same color as Fujino's,_ Nao thought. She found herself laughing inwardly, smiling as the thought of what that could possibly mean, in the bigger scheme of things. She tried to keep her face as blank as possible as she struggled to sit up. "I'm fine; I just pushed the wrong buttons."

Nina looked worried as she helped Nao up into a sitting position, "Tell me who did this to you." There was such conviction in her voice that the idea of revenge suddenly dawned on Nao. And then, just as quickly, vanished once again, for it would be foolish to send Nina to her doom.

Nao had not been expecting Nina to help her up, but she leaned forward and rested her arms on her knees as she tried to find a position that did not pain her in some place new and unexpected. "No one, Nina, and why would I tell you, anyway?" She smirked, Nina did know her very well, and her motives would be clear soon enough. "I know what to do about it, anyway; so don't concern yourself."

"Oh? What are you going to do with your sudden and great political powers, oh Madam Column-Number-Four of Gaulderobe?"

Nao lay back on the bed, feeling more comfortable that way. She wouldn't do anything about it yet, she would get her revenge, however – it was just the way that these things played out. Besides, Kruger owed her big for this. Oh yes, she would get what she wanted, finally.

-

The sunlight shown though the partially closed blinds, casting the illusion of bars through the room. It made the room feel even more like the prison it was. It trapped her within her own twisted and immoral fantasy. This was her prison, this was her hell. It was her penance for her sin. She had taken what was not hers to take, and had suddenly found herself away from everything she knew, everything she held dear.

She would not accept this world as her new reality; she had no place in this happy existence, with this beautiful woman who loved a woman who looked a lot like her almost as much as life itself. Natsuki Kruger was something that was sorely unexpected, something that she could not accept as 'normal'. This was the woman that she had always dreamed of, but not the one that she'd fallen in love with.

She wanted _her_ Natsuki, the one who still did not understand the feelings that Shizuru had finally begun to comprehend. It was so strange to experience Natsuki without the awkwardness that being sixteen brought on; and she wasn't sure that she liked it.

No, she didn't like it. Not at all.

She twisted, noticing that she was still caught up in Natsuki's embrace, the woman's hands drifting towards almost dangerous places. She shifted - content to enjoy the warmth of her prison until such a time that she could get back to where everything she knew to be normal was. To her own time, to her home.

She'd figured that she'd been displaced in time, and not reality when she'd finally stopped panicking about what she had done to Natsuki, and had taken the time to inspect her surroundings. There were so many references in Windbloom's culture that suggested that this really was Earth, the same Earth that she herself had grown up in, that she'd arrived at the conclusion that the Carnival was some sort of inter-timeline event that could connect different times together.

It hurt her head to try and comprehend _why_ however.

Closing her eyes, she settled back into sleep, knowing that it would only be a few short moments until she'd be jerked away from this protective cocoon that Natsuki Kruger had encased her inside.

Some time later, Fujino Shizuru was jerked, not all that unpleasantly out of her dreamless state. The weight around her had shifted, from a gentle press to a far more engulfing sensation. Natsuki had shifted in her sleep, and was now partially on top of her. She slept on, despite Shizuru's discomfort, burrowing ever deeper into the crook of Shizuru's neck.

This position, everything, was just too much for her to handle. She squirmed, trying to get Kruger's head out of the sensitive area – trying not to wake the older woman.


	13. To Another

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Thirteen**

**AN** - I shall offer interweb cookies if anyone can figure out what the title of this story comes from.

Vindicted – be happy… patience is a virtue.

kikyo4ever – This is true, Viola and Kruger are a 'what-if' for Kuga and Fujino. It's a what if that Fujino's beginning to wonder if she wants, as Kruger is so different from poor, blushing Kuga.

EE – Just you wait, I shall bring Nao into her own… see if you can catch the hints. And with this update, you owe me an update!

Silent E – I HAVE CLOTHES ON THIS TIME, HAPPY! It was sooooo hot last week when I was writing… sorry.

* * *

_Executive Office, The Hexagon, __Aries__Republic_

Tokiha Mai reached for the phone on President Chrysant's desk, feeling self conscious as she did so. This was the president's personal line that she was about to use, and Mai was unused to being in a position of any authority at all. Sure, she had reign over the Black Valley as the 'consort' of its leader, but she held no real power. She'd run away from power when she was much younger, and she'd never wanted to go back.

She was alone in the office, everyone else having left some time before to go in search of food. Mai, to credit herself, just wasn't hungry – the events of the day so far were not sitting well in her stomach. She was content to sit and wait for the others to return. Being alone didn't bother her, but the silence did. Mai felt the urge to speak to someone, anyone, other than herself made her believe that perhaps it was a good idea to place this call.

It wasn't unusual for her to feel the urge to speak to her roommate from her days at Gaulderobe, but Mai rarely acted on the impulse. She had no way to do it at home and actually getting up the courage to use the telephone now that she was outside of the technology-barrier of the Black Valley was a feat that Mai had not been expecting to have to perform. She'd repressed the urge to do so for a good ten years – and yet the thought of calling up one Natsuki Kruger frightened her.

She had never been good with phones, or with conversations in general – the distance and her inability to read the expressions on the others face halting her from having good skills with people and the like.

She knew the number, had known it for years, but she knew that it was too early to call Natsuki Kruger; as the woman was most likely sleeping off whatever her 'drowning in self-grief' session had done to her.

Mai hoped it gave her a wicked headache. After witnessing how stuffy and boring Natsuki had become once she'd taken up the position as the head of Gaulderobe, Mai really hoped that the woman got out more. Being drunk in public would do her some good.

She put down the phone receiver, her fingers idly playing over the front of her dress, tracing patters on the crisp white fabric. Her chest itched, and she raised a hand to scratch the itch – as instinct told her to do.

"Don't." She was alerted to the presence of another in the room, a voice that she had come to know well, and yet she did not know at all. "Don't scratch it; it will only make it worse."

"Mikoto, you sound like my mother." Mai laughed, dropping her hand from just over the top of her breast. It wasn't technically polite to scratch that part of yourself in public anyway. Mai had been raised to have manners, and while she seldom had the occasion to use them, she tried to practice them whenever she could.

Mikoto shrugged, and hopped off the window-sill that she had been perched on. She looked sad, regarding Mai with cat-like eyes, "Things are changing, aren't they?" She asked, pulling her jacket closer around herself.

"I don't know, Mikoto." Mai answered, "Why is the presence of Fujino Shizuru in this world causing these things?" She had to ask, even though she was pretty sure that she would not like the answer.

The younger (and yet older, Mai could never work her brain around that) woman shook her head, for she had no answer for Mai's question. On some level, Mai knew that Mikoto wished for nothing more than to hug her and tell her that everything would be alright; but she was not of that caliber – she was supposed to be the advisor, not the comforter in a situation like this. She hated the etiquette of Aries. It was so stifling.

Mikoto turned, looking at Mai though half-lidded eyes, "Fujino Shizuru is an interesting being – she could win wars, with her dedication, and her loyalty never wavers. I do not know why she is causing all hell to break loose across this world, but I'm sure, if she put her mind to it, she could stop it all – single handedly." This was the only explanation that she could offer Mai, and all that she could provide as comfort.

-

_Gaulderobe, __Wind__City__, Windbloom_

It was the squirming that woke her, as it was out of the ordinary. Shizuru never moved in her sleep, for she was as sound a sleeper as the dead. Everything else about the half-awake, half-conscious nuzzling that Natsuki Kruger tended to do to whatever was within reach was perfectly natural. Each morning she would burrow, rather instinctively into whatever she had wrapped herself around, or, as case may be, was wrapped around her.

At this particular point in the morning, Natsuki Kruger was nestled quite neatly atop of one Fujino Shizuru, a recent newcomer to her world, and not one to be trifled with; as she had shown the previous day. This was an odd situation for her to be in, as she was not used to sleeping with any one other that her lover and life-partner – this girl felt new and different, and yet shockingly familiar.

Again, the half-asleep brain of Natsuki Kruger reminded herself that they were _technically_ the same person, just from different universes – with different experiences and stories. The same, and yet different.

She burrowed deeper, despite the fact that the other occupant of the bed was doing her absolute best to get away. Her lips brushed against skin, a warm point against the coolness of the sheets. Burrowing still deeper, she pressed her lips into that point, for this was her way of saying 'good morning'.

The form under her let out a most uncharacteristic noise and sat up rather hurriedly. Rolling onto her back, and off of the younger girl as best she could, Natsuki Kruger smiled, "Good morning, Shizuru."

The look in Fujino Shizuru's eyes told Natsuki, on no certain terms; that something was bothering her bedmate. She looked terrified and violated at what Natsuki had done, but the expression hidden behind those eyes that Natsuki could loose herself in, was one of bewilderment. Shizuru, who had always been the first to act in Natsuki's epic love story, was honestly at a loss of what she should be doing. The role reversal was enough to make Natsuki laugh, but she kept her feelings to herself, wanting only to make sure that the newcomer to her world was not feeling overly violated.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, a bemused smile gracing her face, Natsuki Kruger pulled the girl back down onto the bed.

The girl landed gracefully, her hair spilling out around her in an arc, standing out against the red of the bed sheets. Although Natsuki knew that the girl had spelt the night before, she could not help but think that the girl looked _haggard_ as though she had not slept in days. _Perhaps this world is too much for her,_ Kruger thought, placing a gentle finger under Shizuru's chin. _She looks as though she was up all night worrying about something._

"Is there something troubling you, Shizuru?" The finger trailed down the younger girl's neck, slowly drawing circles on the other's skin.

The girl shifted again, squirming to get away from the offending finger. Her eyes, Natsuki noticed, were far duller and much blanker than they'd been the previous night – they were almost vacant. "N-" Her accent was much thicker as she spoke, as though she was upset or just overly tired. Natsuki was not sure which was the cause of the younger girl's actions. Natsuki halted the movement of her finger and waited patiently for the girl to get the words out.

Shizuru faltered, but the light returned to her eyes flickering back to life, "Nothing, I was just thinking."

Natsuki rolled over, resting on an elbow, "Oh, about what?"

The girl looked again upon the Principal of Gaulderobe with sad eyes. Natsuki could tell that she wanted to say something, to spit it out – to come clean. She shook her head, moving again away from Natsuki, "I was wondering how…" She trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes.

Natsuki's hand snaked out, wanting to touch the girl, to make her feel safe once again. It was an awkward feeling, to be providing comfort for someone in this way, as Kruger usually left the comforting to her far more experienced counterpart. A gentle pat on the head was all that she could think to do, for the tears kept on falling down Shizuru's face.

"-how Natsuki was doing, after I..." She choked on the words, as if she was unable to get them out, "After I…." She trailed off, the words failing her.

Natsuki leaned in, a gentle hand touching the wet cheeks – brushing the tears away. Her eyes caught movement on the edge of her peripheral vision, but she said nothing, leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on the crying girl's lips. "It's okay," She began, her voice horse, throaty even, "I'm sure she's fine, and that my Shizuru's taking good care of her."

The girl froze in her arms, and Kruger wondered if she had said the wrong thing. But the slow motions, a gentle circle on her back, and the decrease in the sniffling seemed to point in another direction. Was this a sign that the girl was calming down enough to admit what was wrong with the situation?

Natsuki Kruger did not see the betrayed look on the onlooker's face. She did not hear the sharp intake of breath from the girl in hear arms, the gentle whisper of, "Don't worry, Natsuki, I will protect you."

-

_Elsewhere_

Shizuru Viola spun on her heel, her eyes flicking from right to left – wondering where her foe had gotten to. This was a bad situation, and it had been from the start, but the fact that her monstrous foe had suddenly vanished into nothingness concerned her greatly.

This world was insane, for the was no rhyme or reason to the way that the war was fought. Children were the soldiers and there was no explanation as to why anyone was fighting – so many were dead and the town was devoid of life as Shizuru dashed through the streets.

The belching sound of fire escaping from the jaws of the monster caused her to duck, the heat making the hair on the back of her neck stand up, as if it was trying to catch on fire – as if that would be a good way to die.

She couldn't personally think of a worse way to go out, than burning to death. She couldn't die here, she'd promised herself – and her counterpart, an angry young girl that reminded Shizuru of a ghost from her past long ago – that she would not die here. She'd find a way home.

Her blade swung up, extending to block another fiery attack as she retreated, hoping to get out of the monster's range. How had this monster, so clearly not a slave, so clearly something else; gotten out into the world? Its very existence seemed to defy the very laws that her world had been governed upon.

_A simple gesture, a hand on the shoulder, was all that Kuga Natsuki had offered her, a sworn promise to send her back to where she belonged. Not in this crazy, mixed up world. Shizuru was content that she had found a kindred soul in this world – even if that soul happened to be an angry seventeen year old with a chip on her shoulder the size of Altai. As a stranger to this world, Shizuru Viola found herself without the ability to choose her allies. _

The blade missed, shooting off into the distance, away from Viola and her protective covering, knocking against several trees and taking out numerous unsuspecting tree-branches. She pulled it back, snapping her wrist in the flicking motion that would retract the blade.

What was this world? Kuga had told her, in short bursts of friendliness that seemed to counteract the girl's normal, icy exterior; that they were in the middle of a war. But this was a war very much unlike anything that Viola had ever experienced. So much of it was conducted in secret, against people who Viola had come to identify as classmates of Kuga.

_A gentle smile, leaning down for the kiss she knew that she could steal. The flushed cheeks, so adorable, so familiar. A vision of a woman in blue, calm and in control. Someone who she could betray again. A chaste kiss on the forehead._

_"I'm sorry, but my heart belongs to another."_


	14. Pressing Forward

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Fourteen **

**AN - **Alright everyone, this is the last chapter until most likely sometime a couple of weeks from now - I'm starting college and I don't want to risk actually falling behind on anything just because I want to write you all Katsu.

I've tried to leave you on a good note, with Kruger and Fujino not doing anything too... sexual, and Nao's UST finally coming to a head. There are only perhaps six more chapters in this story, and so much still has to happen.

Darkredeyes, Madly Lies Turandot – thank you for your words of encouragement.

xSojix – The Title comes from one of the first lines of the Phantom of the Opera. "I'm sure some of you may recall the strange affair of the phantom of the opera, a mystery never fully explained.

Warp Ligia Obscura – What do you mean you don't like the premise? I mean, I'm glad you read it, but what's wrong with the idea?

Silent E – Oh yes, I'm sure that Fujino does not like being told that this … other her is taking care of her darling Kuga-chan… Fufufu, I'm so evil.

Vindicated – Nao's there, you just have to look.

* * *

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom_

The morning had been a perfectly normal one, seeing Nina again had been an interesting treat, but a short-lived one, as the girl had quickly latched herself onto Irina Woods and some of the lesser Pearls she'd been friends with the previous year. It had given Nao the chance to escape the obligation that she felt to the girl. It wasn't that Nina was really her charge, more like a younger sister from the same country, in the same situation. Nao had brought her to check out Fujino, but since the events of the day before, Nao had no interest in interacting with Viola's double ever again. She wouldn't want to wish the ass-kicking she'd had the previous day on anyone, especially not Nina.

_Even with that Daddy-complex, she's an okay kid. _ Nao mused, propping her head on her arm, contemplating the table before her with disinterest. Her shoulders hurt and she was unprepared for whatever she was bound to have to do today.

To tell the truth, she had honestly not expected Nina to come so quickly. She more just wanted to get the word out to her former charge that there were events happening at Gaulderobe that would, perhaps, run more smoothly if she were present. She honestly had no expected such a prompt response.

There was nothing fun going on – since Kruger was so wrapped up in trying to return that monster to wherever it was that she came from. Nao hated the feeling of uselessness that her current position, as a Column, she had certain rights and responsibilities, but she rarely actually did anything, for all the power the position brought her. She flicked an invisible bit of dust off the table; Fujino was truly something else, worming herself into Kruger's heart without even trying. Overstepping bounds that not even Nao herself dared to more than touch with a ten-foot pole.

She'd crawled right into bed with Kruger as though she'd never left, and Nao did not know what else to say about it. She hated the fact that anyone could get into bed with that woman and still live to tell the tale. Didn't Fujino know that the relationship between Viola and Kruger was not an open one?

_On top of the fact that she's powerful – ungodly powerful._ Nao shook her head; she had been soundly beaten by that girl in a matter of minutes. It had not been a fair contest from the start, for she had thought to have the advantage over Fujino. An advantage the sandy-haired woman quickly proved to be void.

Nao rose from her seat, and headed outside. Kruger and Fujino were taking their sweet time this morning, she thought in annoyance, glancing around herself to make sure that she would not be followed as she picked her way up the footpath towards the headmistress' quarters.

_If she expects me to wake her up after another night of no sleep. _Nao knew that she should not be growling so menacingly at nothing, but Kruger's relationship with her had always been somewhat based on animosity. It was a loving sort of aggravation, Nao had realized long ago, and one that she could stand as she'd never really liked her parents that much to begin with.

As she rounded the bend in the path that opened her view from trees to the large bay window of the headmistress's residence and most of the rest of the white building, Nao noticed something that made her blood run cold.

Kruger and Fujino.

Kissing.

Nao felt the color drain from her face as she stared at the scene before her. This was not supposed to happen, ever. Nao felt as though one of her universal constants was being taken and replaced by something else. Something that she could not even begin to fathom.

Nao felt herself flush and turn away from the scene before her as quickly as she could, before the damage was done. Betrayal blooming in her eyes, she clenched her fists as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of hatred that she felt for that woman – she would not stand for this.

Kruger was supposed to be a good person, a faithful and devoted lover – not this whimsical being that could simply move from lover to lover as though nothing had happened. They were not the same person – Fujino and Viola, and they would never be.

Fujino Shizuru. She hated that name, hated her for taking the place that Shizuru Viola had left, the void that Nao herself should have filled. The moment that Nao had been waiting for since the beginning of her Coral Year – since this damn infatuation had started; it had slipped though her fingers.

She ventured a glance back to stare at the window one more time, the betrayal still evident in her eyes. Kruger was patting the crying girl on the head, kissing her cheek, no doubt whispering kind words, anything to keep the girl calm.

But there were eyes upon her, blank and angry. On the whisper of the wind, Nao could have sworn she heard a silent warning to run.

Run as far as she could before the child came out.

The lips, moving, inaudible from behind the glass, seemed to spell out a word that Nao knew she recognized. A word she would never forget.

She'd never forgotten it to begin with.

_Kiyohime_.

She ran.

-

After breakfasting with Shizuru and putting the girl to work grading a fairly self-explanatory test that the Pearls had taken the day before, Natsuki Kruger felt as though she could actually attempt to slog through some of the massive amount of paperwork that she had suddenly acquired over the past few days. This business with Fujino had thrown off the natural rhythm to which Natsuki did things, and she did not like the damage that it did to her productivity.

Yesterday, at least before the whole fiasco with Nao; Natsuki had managed to get some work done – but nowhere near enough. She had reports due on three different subjects to various branches of the Windbloom government, and another two for Aries and Florence. There was no way that she could play catch-up when half of her working team had vanished into god-knows-where in the time-space continuum.

Natsuki closed her eyes and forced herself to think once again on the task at hand. She had no wish or want to think of _her_ Shizuru right now, for thinking of her made concentrating on work even harder; as her mind was so plagued with worry.

Settling down into her chair, Natsuki allowed herself to induldge in the small pleasures of her life, forgetting, for the moment, the larger ones. She savored the taste of the freshly-brewed tea she'd brought with her as she pulled the first of her reports out of her inbox.

Natsuki felt her eyes go slightly cross-eyed as she skimmed the document. It contained something about the need to assign an Otome to Zipang or send either Nao or Sara to look over the proceedings of setting up a sister school – according to the report, it just wasn't safe to just send the technology over to the country and not give them something with which to base their preliminary guesses on.

Natsuki closed her eyes, as far as she knew Zipang was full of a rather backwards people who cared more for being polite and appearing to be the picture of utmost calm that she didn't think that having an Otome there while they built a building was such an important thing. True, she'd have to send perhaps some of the current Pearl class to the island nation to act as teachers for a while. It was a worthy sacrifice, to lose some of the Otome that could have been put to work, protecting the royals of this kingdom – for the sake of suddenly having twice the work force.

She sighed, and wiggled around to scratch the small of her back. It was odd for her to itch like that; perhaps she'd been bitten by something that morning, as they made their way down to the school?

She shrugged, and turned her attention back to the report. Trailing a finger down the numbers, she was jerked back to reality once again, by a ringing of the phone. She paused, and then reached over and plucked the phone off of its receiver, bringing it to her ear.

"Kruger here." Natsuki said with a sweeping gesture, tossing the report back onto her desk and leaning back in the chair. She'd never been good at getting work done in a productive sort of manner, and it was only with much persuasion that Shizuru had managed to coax Natsuki into doing anything at all.

How she'd gotten this job was completely lost on her. Sure, she'd been the number two, and then number one Pearl; but she'd gone along with Mai simply out of the spirit of competition between them.

"Natsuki, it's Mai." Natsuki nearly dropped the phone. _That_ was not a voice that she was not expecting to hear. Natsuki sat up a little straighter as her former roommate continued, "President Chrysant asked me to call you."

"Oh, what did Madame President want?" Natsuki could not help but find herself intrigued at the prospect of Yukino Chrysant asking Mai to call her. Usually the woman made such calls herself. Yukino was always reliable when it came to establishing a personal connection with her fellow world-leaders.

"She's gone back to the ruins, with Mikoto…" Mai trailed off; as though listening for something that Natsuki herself could not hear. "Oh, Natsuki, Mikoto says that the world will start changing if we can't find a way to get Fujino-san home."

Natsuki blinked, _way to drop a major problem in my lap_. Mai always had had a knack for making even the worst news sound like something she'd want to hear, even though Natsuki had no idea how she did it.

She sighed quietly, away from the mouth piece of the phone, so that Mai could barely hear it. She was used to this, as it was part of the job description, she must hold up well in crisis. "What do you mean, change?" Natsuki inquired, preparing for the onslaught of information that she knew was coming.

"This world – it's not time -" Mai trailed off, Kruger supposed that she was struggling to find the words. There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Mai continued, "Fujino-san's presence in this world is setting off a chain reaction of events that are not stated to happen for another twenty or so years."

"According to that pet cat-god of yours?" Natsuki asked, perhaps a little bitterly. She did not like the woman that Mai had found herself inexplicitly bonded to, finding her happy personality and far too infinite knowledge of everything to be obnoxious.

"She's not my _pet_, Natsuki." Mai retorted, "She knows what she's talking about, however. This world is changing – and I don't think that it's for the better.

Natsuki Kruger nodded, knowing the truth in Mai's words. She too had felt the changes, her want to be alone more and more – the feeling of loneliness perforating every aspect of her body.

-

_The Katsu Ruins, Aries-Altai Border _

It was late in the morning when the delegation finally arrived at the Katsu ruins, and Mikoto knew almost immediately that something was wrong. Turning her nose into the air, she sniffed shortly and moved to the left of the main entrance, Professor Sandskein and the rest of President Chrysant's staff close on her heals.

These ruins; Mikoto realized, were the remains of a large radio tower – something that had once stood just minutes from her home, high on a hill so that the signal could travel without the usual battle attached to FM-radio waves. She wondered why they were still here, especially if no one had noticed them before.

_So they just appeared._ Mikoto mused, pulling her robe closer around her body, contemplating the outside wall of the ruins. _As if the world its self wanted me to come and see them. It's as though the carnival was meant to start – even without Nagi or Himeno._

_But why_? Mikoto was unsure of the answer, moving around the outside, looking for another way in. There should have been another way – as there was always a back way into these caves.

She poked the wall with her staff, the ornaments clinking gently as she did. The wall was soft, after all the apparent years of disuse. Her staff chipped a small section off of the concrete when it hit the wall, the grey substance crumbling into dust on the ground.

"Come on." She said, smiling at Professor Sandskein, who looked quite flabbergasted at Mikoto's actions. Mikoto supposed that she would be, if she actually cared about the _walls _of this potentially very famous and full-of-history ruin.

-

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom _

Natsuki Kruger was looking for a fight. After that conversation with Mai, she knew that she most likely deserved whatever was coming to her. She had had no right to doubt the validity of Mai's claims, as they seemed perfectly logical to her. The world _was_ changing, perhaps for the worst, but Natsuki was reluctant to assign the blame to Fujino herself – as the girl just seemed to be broken, not threatening.

She pulled open the refrigerator and contemplated its contents. There wasn't much by way of food in there, instead just a few pieces of fruit that Shizuru had bought to snack on some days before. And yet, Natsuki felt the urge to cook something.

Or rather, burn something and feel better about herself.

Either way, she was in a bad mood. She pulled open the cabinet and found the last remaining box of pasta, a triumphant grin on her face. She would make Fujino pasta, as it was virtually impossible for her to mess it up.

Yes, Natsuki Kruger liked this idea.

She knew that as the head of Gaulderobe, she was required to tell Fujino just what her presence in this world was doing. And yet, Natsuki did not feel as though she could honestly tell the girl. There was so much on the line, and Fujino did not seem stable enough to handle the implication that all of the problems in this were her fault.

Natsuki set the pot of water on the stove, and sighed. She had no idea how to go about this.


	15. Free Falling

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Fifteen **

**AN -** Sorry about the delay, I started to watch House and there's something about a snarky, sexy bastard that can drive all thoughts of epic ShizNat from one's brain. For that I am truly sorry, but House is on Hiatus until Halloween and I figured that I owed you guys that much.

* * *

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom_

Natsuki Kruger looked out of the window of her home's kitchen, contemplating her next move. It was like she was playing chess, and every move was vital to the continued existence of her life as she knew it. The state of the world was such that Natsuki no longer what to expect from one moment the next. She was scared and concerned for a girl that she had just barely met but felt as though she had known all her life. Fujino Shizuru was the one person whose presence in Natsuki's world was both a blessing and a threat.

The cryptic message that Mai had left for her said that Natsuki's time was running out. She no longer had the leisure of acting at her own pleasure – for now the lives of thousands decided on her movement across the chessboard of life.

The Katsu Ruins, contained far more secrets that they were telling, and Natsuki wasn't sure that the cat-god and her old roommate could find all of the answers in time. The ruins were the key to all of this, Natsuki knew that, but there was no way to figure out exactly what they _did_ until she knew more about the person they had brought to this world.

Natsuki shook her head, for the pain of losing – and yet not losing – her lover was almost too great for her to cope. She had to be strong for Shizuru, to put a brave face for the rest of her friends and for her charges. She was the mentor and leader of them all – she had to be strong for them.

She picked up the pasta strainer and shook the last of the water out of the pasta, setting it back in the sink with a satisfying clink. She'd called Mai back after she'd realized that there was no way that she could work though this current predicament of theirs along. It had been nice to just to talk as two old friends – without the added burden of who they were and who they represented standing over their heads.

Natsuki missed her best friend, and it was nice to have her back, even at the expense of losing Shizuru.

Mai had told her that Mikoto thought that bringing Fujino back to the Katsu Ruins might help to open some doors that had been previously unopened. There was something to the Cat God's wisdom; Natsuki knew that the strange creature that Mai had found to be her Master was quite knowledgeable on these subjects. The Katsu Ruins were an enigma in Natsuki's mind, but with Professor Sandskein and Mikoto both working on the problem of figuring out how to get _her_ Shizuru back, Natsuki was prepared to do almost anything.

Natsuki Kruger wasn't sure if she wanted to actually move herself to that point – near suicidal devotion was not something she saw within herself, but she was determined to make sure that she was the one controlling what happened in this situation. She was the one person that Fujino seemed to really trust, and Natsuki wanted to make sure that she was the one who helped Fujino to determine her own fate. She knew that Fujino needed to open up, let herself finally speak to someone, to let out the pent-up emotion that Natsuki could tell was just waiting to burst.

From what Natsuki could tell, Fujino Shizuru was a ticking time bomb set to expire at any minute, but with no specific time attached. The thought terrified Natsuki for some reason. The potential that Fujino could snap with all that pent-up rage still inside her meant that _everyone_ she encountered life was in danger. Natsuki was not willing to risk her people for the whim of a crazy version of her lover that had appeared in the middle of some dusty old ruin that was almost in Altai.

Nothing good ever came out of that place, save Nao.

Her fingers snaked around at scratch the small of her back as she went hunting for where _her_ Shizuru had hidden the 'nice' plates (the ones that they only used when Natsuki's parents were in town or when Shizuru's brother came to visit).

Her back had been itching on and off ever since they'd returned from the Katsu Ruins. Natsuki figured that she'd ask Doctor Helene to take a look at whatever had bitten her later, as the bite was starting to drive her six levels of crazy. She hoped it wasn't something bad, as the bugs in Aries could get nasty if you weren't careful.

To tell the truth, Natsuki cursed her luck, for even though it was late in the season, she'd still managed to get one hell of a nasty bug bite.

-

Fujino Shizuru stood on the balcony of Gakuenchou Kruger's living room, looking out over the city of Windbloom, struggling to get a hold of her emotions. She had to reign them in once more, so as they would not risk getting out of hand once more. She could not have a repeat of what had happened _that_ night.

Like that night, she'd been watched as she'd done something wrong – yet Shizuru knew that this time she had much more to fear. This Natsuki in this world was already quite nicely attached to someone who was not her, and to break that trust would be an extreme violation on a very, _very _longstanding relationship.

_Nao, of all people,_ had been watching them. She'd seen what Shizuru had let happen, despite her instincts screaming at her. Nao had seen – Nao was bound to betray their trust. She was the same in every time, Shizuru realized.

_Like a dog that needs to be put down._

She wrapped her arms around herself and stared off into the setting sun. She knew that things were changing in this world; she had sensed the changes in Kruger and some of the others that she'd known since the beginning of her time here. What has started out as normal, happy, relatively undamaged people, had quickly turned into a group of people that Shizuru found herself very reluctantly recognizing.

They were starting to act a lot more like their counterparts back at Fuuka Academy. Shizuru sighed quietly, her eyes facing directly into the sunset, she was like Icarus, flying far too close to the sun – she knew that her fall was inevitable.

She hoped that she could find the willpower to let Natsuki Kruger in, for the woman seemed to generally want to help her, which was more than Shizuru could say for most of the others that she dealt with on a regular basis.

They wanted to put her on a pedestal above everyone else and make her feel as though she were an idol to be worshiped. Coming to this world had been humbling, and yet liberating at the same time. Shizuru had suddenly found herself with no identity, and therefore no reputation to maintain. She could simply be herself here.

Whom ever that was.

"Shizuru!" Kruger called from somewhere inside the house, "Dinner's ready."

Shizuru pushed away from the edge of the balcony, a cautious glance around her before she headed in. She didn't think that Nao would come back, but one could never be too careful. If she was lucky, Nao would not come back ever again, not after what her last loss of control had nearly done to the red-head. Shizuru did not want to risk being caught in such a compromising position again.

She shifted her weight and pivoted on her heel, she would make sure that Nao never interfered if she even dared to do show her face one more time. Nao really was the same in every world, and Shizuru wanted nothing to do with the hangers-on of this world, should she be stuck her for a long time.

Feeling the power of love and devotion that she had taken to capitalizing on whenever she needed to present her own power, Fujino Shizuru pulled the purple mantle of Kyohime's spirit-self around her. He would protect her; make sure that she was never hurt again.

Kiyohime would make sure that Shizuru never hurt Natsuki like she had already done. _Never again,_ it was a mantra in her head, and obsession that she had to fulfill, she had no choice.

If she hurt Natsuki again, she didn't think she could bear to live with herself.

-

The kitchen was bright and cheery, decorated with yellows and creams that offset the industrial steel of the kitchen appliances. Back when Natsuki had been selected as Gakuenchou of Gaulderobe, Shizuru had decided that the sign-up bonus was enough to redo their new living quarters in a style that was not out of the Twelve Kingdoms War. Natsuki had agreed with her, but Shizuru had been a little excessive at the time – the bill far exceeding what they'd had at the time. It had only been though some creative bookkeeping on Natsuki's part and the fact that the water main had broken just two weeks after the painting was finished that they'd found the funds to cover the renovations.

Natsuki had set the table for two, and the Florence-based cuisine was already on the table. After a moment, Natsuki had added some sprigs of one of the many plants that Viola kept growing on the windowsill to the sauce, and was still marveling at the improvement of the taste. She'd always been a terrible cook, but over the years she'd improved to the point where she could get away with faking it quite well. She smiled at her accomplishment; for it was only through an accomplishment like this that she was able to forget her troubles.

Natsuki stuck her head around the door into the living room. "Shizuru? The food is done, are you coming?" It was unusual for her not to get a response, from either version of her love.

The girl had gone out onto the balcony as soon as they'd returned to the residence. Natsuki had thought that she'd been struck with a strange sort of melancholy that one usually associates with morning rooms in the late afternoon. Natsuki just hoped that this wasn't the sign of a relapse in whatever progress they were making to what was really bothering Shizuru.

"Natsuki cooked for me, I wouldn't miss it for the world." Shizuru said as she pushed the door to the balcony closed. She looked scared and tired, out of place in Natsuki's mind. She was used to the easy confidence that Shizuru did everything with, not this scared little girl who had no idea what she wanted from life. It was an alien sensation, and not one that Natsuki appreciated.

"Please forgive me, but I needed to get some fresh air."

Natsuki nodded. She knew that it was better to give the girl space. She understood the sensation of being cooped up inside all day, and as it was, Natsuki was grasping at straws for excuses to keep her out of the public eye. This was a bad situation, all around. "I understand." With a formal bow, she held the door open for her house guest – "Please come in and grace my humble kitchen with your presence."

The tips of Fujino's ears tinged a light pink, and she raised her hand to cover her smiling mouth, "Ara, Kruger-san is such a gentleman."

Natsuki grinned back, before her face fell into a far more serious expression. As she ushered the girl into her seat, drawing out the chair as proper manners dictated. "Shizuru, there are some things that I've found out that I need to talk to you about. The Katsu Ruins where you first came into this world – the expert working with President Chrysant thinks that we need to bring you back there to truly figure out if we can send you back."

Shizuru's gaze met Natsuki's, and the unspoken words were laid bare, _This world is changing, and you may be the root of the problem – we have to be rid of you before anything else goes wrong. _

_I know, Natsuki, I'm sorry._

-

_Executive Office, The Hexagon, _ _Aries_ _Republic_

Yukino Chrysant sat at her desk, her glasses dangling from one hand while the other massaged the bridge of her nose. It was close to midnight and they had made no progress with the peace treaty that she was supposed to be approving – not mediating. Who knew that Romulus and Remus could never agree on where to put a demilitarized zone between their borders so as to prevent future conflict?

Yukino was sick of dealing with the sibling-like squabbles of the world nobility that surrounded her tiny little republic. They were all related as it was, and it was painful to watch the nobility struggle to ignore those family ties in the best interest of their nations.

She guessed that it was just too bad that she couldn't relate to any of them as an elected official.

She sighed and looked out into the night sky – the blue star that always hung in the sky was shining more brightly than usual today, its light seeming almost purplish when looked at just the right angle.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. They were nowhere near done, and this was a far more pressing matter to Aries' national security that the strange events that were taking place all over their world.

Mikoto, Tokiha Mai's companion, had assured her that the matter would be handled, and that perhaps President Chrysant should go back to focusing on ruling her country for the time being.

Still, Yukino hoped that she would not find herself in a position where it would be her word against all of those in the rest of the International Assembly. She didn't think that she could bear to inform them that Aries and Windbloom had messed up once again – and that the world was doomed to end because of a stupid mistake.

But Mikoto had told her that there was room for some hope, and Yukino believed her, for both her country's sake, and also her own. She didn't know if her sanity could take another war.

Shifting in her chair, she turned her gaze to the heads of state in front of her once more. She was powerless to do anything but trust Mikoto's hunch, and she wasn't sure if she liked that position at all.


	16. Spiral

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Sixteen **

* * *

_The _ _Black_ _Valley__ to The Katsu Ruins, Aries-Altai Border _

It was strange for the dawn to come so early this late in the season to the Black Valley. Time just seemed to stand still there, allowing for days to feed almost endlessly in to nights – the seasonal difference never seemed to alter the layout of the of the idealistic landscape. It was a place that the girl who had once been the odd man out in the HiME carnival now called home, a place where time did not hold any bearings.

Time, as it were to the girl who had once been known as Minagi Mikoto was changing. Her perception of what had had happened during _that_ carnival was quickly changing, she no longer could remember details of what her brother had forced her to do – or of how the fight between Kuga and Fujino ended, even though she knew that the fight _had_ to have taken place.

She knew that very soon, her memories would be completely erased, for the carnival would end for lack of a player – she wondered how the Nagi of that world would take such news. She imagined that the boy would find himself trying to force Viola to return to this world by any means necessary. She just hoped that he wouldn't be violent about it. She didn't think that the man could stand up to Fujino, let alone Viola on a bad day.

Smirking, Mikoto pushed herself through the time-space rift that allowed the Valley to move at her whim – and found herself standing once again before the Katsu Ruins. She did not know the place, for it was not in any of her recollections of First District or Searrs – an enigma in her memory.

She laid a hand on the wall, shifting her attention from right to left before stepping through the hole that she'd made several days ago. Their memories were fading, and there wasn't much time remaining with which she would have a chance to do this with a full picture in mind. The darkness that was creeping at the edge of her vision, the loss of control, and her faithless devotion – she did not think that she could handle being in a situation like that again. There was no dark lord to try and control her, and yet the darkness spiraled towards her, a deafening sense of quiet insanity.

The girl who at one time had been known as Minagi Mikoto recognized what had sensed years ago, the creeping fear, the reason that drove her away from direct confrontation with either Fujino or Kuga – a blinding fear of the unknown, of the great evil lurking just behind the barely veiled sanity.

Shivering, Mikoto paused, snapping her fingers to light the cave with a disembodied light that she'd learned long ago to summon whenever she was faced with Twentieth Century Ruins. She was standing before the picture of the snakes, growing out of the head, Kiyohime.

Mikoto knew the dangers of her actions. She reached out and brushed the wall with a tentative finger. There was something not right about what was going on here; this image in particular was getting darker, as was the light etching of Nao's former child Julia that she could just barely make out on the opposing wall. What had she never come across these ruins before?

Where had they come from? Almost as soon as the question came to mind, Mikoto knew the answer – the queen of hell and her joker-prince were behind these ruins, most likely built them in an attempt to send Viola back to this world – the nexus never connected, apparently.

Or had it?

Mikoto's memories were changing, or so she thought, but the images here suggested that the reasoning behind the change was not towards rewriting of her memories, but rather altering them so as to not remember the pain of the sword, the feeling of loss and sadness.

_I killed her._

_Tate saved us both, everyone was happy; we all lived happily ever after._

A dry, hollow laugh echoed throughout the halls of the Katsu Ruins, for the girl once known as Minagi Mikoto had figured out the key to the mystery – a mystery that had roots not only in the commonplace existence of herself, but also of the very fabric of space and time.

There was very little that could be done to prevent the inevitable. There was no Ani-ue to protect her and guide her, the madness and faith in the darkness would come on its own. She was already programmed to do just what the darkness wanted, and she would do it, because she had to save the world from the monster that was now sleeping comfortably in the Gakuenchou of Gaulderobe's bed.

Raising a hand into the air, Mikoto pulled together the dark energy that she knew still resided within her heart.

_Miroku!_

-

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind_ _City__, Windbloom _

No one knew what to make of the sudden changes that some of the higher-ups of the world seemed to be going through. Kruger was growing more moody, President Chrysant was becoming more and more submissive to the whims of others and Juliet Nao Zhang felt that she was the only one who was noticing anything. She hated the fact that the world was changing, because the change was bad for her. She suddenly would find herself alone thinking that conversations would have been run differently if Fujino Shizuru was not in the picture.

She hated to admit it, but as much as she was glad that Viola was gone, she wanted this newer version of her gone even more. If she were to win Kruger, it would be out from under the nose of her very observant, if deceivingly dumb, lover.

Fujino, now there was a problem, Nao knew that Kruger was doing _everything_ in her (considerable) power, to get the girl home and to keep her happy until such a time as that were possible. Nao reasoned that Kruger must have sensed a little of the underlying insanity that Fujino just barely managed to keep a handle on – it was the only reason that she could think of for Kruger, who was more loyal the some of the dogs her family bred, to come anywhere close to cheating on Viola.

Even if they were technically the same person in appearance and mental prowess, there was no reason that Kruger should violate her pledge of loyalty to Shizuru Viola. Nao hated that she could just throw something so beautiful and loving away like that. There was no reason for it, save the foolishness of a woman who had lost the most precious thing in the world to her.

_Quite the role reversal, wasn't it?_

Nao stormed through the Pearl Hallway, making sure to bang enough doors to wake up as many of the Pearls as she could, for it was her way of throwing her weight around. She would find the way to get the old Viola back, for she did not like the changes that were happening to her world.

Stepping into the showers, she shed her pants and then her shirt, tossing them into the hamper as she headed for the nearest stall. She usually used the staff bathroom two floors up, but she was dead on her feet from flying to Aries only to be informed that President Chrysant wasn't seeing anyone by a rather annoyed General Armitage.

No one should have to deal with Haruka Armitage when she was annoyed, as it was hazardous to one's mental health. Nao knew that she should demand workmen's compensation for it, as the Brigadier General had thrown several books at her when Nao was insistent that she speak to the president.

She guessed that everyone was feeling powerless against whatever it was that they were up against.

Yawning, she spun the nozzle and stepped into the spray, welcoming the feelings of warmth and cleanliness. She knew that she should make sure that nothing got bruised when she was flying – as it sometimes did, because the robe wasn't as form-fitting during flight, and her boots had a habit of giving her blisters – but made no effort to look down and check.

Running her hands up and down her legs, she bent over, stretching as she did. Having a full range of body motions felt good after that flight, maybe, if she was up to it, she'd go for a run later to work out the kinks in her muscles.

Her fingers encountered something on her left thigh, about half-way up. A mark of some sort, a mark that Nao was positive she'd seen before.

A strange, hook-like mark that she was positive had not been there that morning.

-

The report landed on Natsuki Kruger's desk first thing the following morning. Apparently, Mai's pet was good for something, and had reasoned that, under the right circumstances, simply having Fujino present at the ruins might send her back to her world, giving Natsuki back her lover and hopefully ending the world-ending prophecies that Mai's Master kept on spouting.

Natsuki smiled and pulled her coat closer around herself. As much as she was sorry to have to see Fujino go, she didn't think that she could tolerate the girl's presence for much longer before she lost control completely. They were the same, and yet they were so different, Natsuki found herself falling in love with this one just has she'd fallen for the other so long ago.

She was cold, and sick of not knowing what she was doing – how her actions were affecting those around her. Shizuru used to tell her everything, sparing no teasing detail, and now she found herself without the normalcy of her old world, she longed for it.

She wanted, more than anything else in the world, to return to the normalcy of her previous existence. She knew that she was starting to become distrustful of ever her oldest friends and she could not begin to fathom why.

_I will never trust another human being again. _

She had never been hurt, yet she felt as though she should never trust anyone.

There was still the danger of getting too close.

Natsuki felt as though she owed it to Fujino to help the girl figure out what the hell was wrong with her. She was afraid of attaching herself emotionally to anyone, and plagued with a fear of intimacy that Natsuki had no frame of reference for. It didn't make sense, that Fujino was so terrified of rejection that she simply shut herself off to love and affection all together.

What kind of world was Fujino from, if love could not be considered love? Natsuki chewed on her lip and pondered how she could ask Fujino this question without seeming too prying.

But what was the point; there was something darkly sinister about the way the girl looked at all the others around Kruger, Nao in particular, that made Natsuki worry that she shouldn't let the girl talk to anyone new until they sent her back. Behind those eyes lay a certain sort of madness, one that Kruger had long associated with the slightly obsessive, but ever-faithful love of her life.

The madness that she thought she saw in Fujino Shizuru worried Natsuki, because she wasn't sure that she could take the girl down if she needed to.

Setting the report back down on her desk, Natsuki picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Aries Consulate in Windbloom, they'd connect her to Yukino and from there, perhaps, they could figure out how to orchestrate returning Fujino Shizuru to her home world before anyone got hurt.

-

_Elsewhere_

Construction had begun three days ago, and the building was no closer to behind solidified. They had to work quickly or they would loose their window of time when the circumstances were right, the HiME star would leave all together. There was a sense of urgency in their actions; both the Queen and the Joker knew that this was no trifling matter, for the very make up of their world was threatened.

What had replaced their hidden HiME was no trifling force, but a cool and calculated warrior that was not ruled by repressed emotions the way her counterpart was. This warrior had formed a bond with Kuga, and they had engaged, several times, the children of both Tokiha and Minagi; with minimal, success.

It was the fact that the hidden HiME could no longer be controlled through her emotions that made the Queen of Hell the most concerned. There was something to be said for having the almost explosive force of obsessive love to play in your hand of cards; and the loss of power rather altered the game plan. No longer was the decisive blow renegotiated and set down in an easy to manage, well-executed package.

There was really no telling what would happen if they did not send this one back to where ever the hell she came from.

"Do you think this will work?" The Queen asks the Joker, settling more comfortably into her wheelchair and watching as the painters hastily reproduce the drawings that she's provided from a book she shouldn't have.

He shrugs, his book resting on top of his head, as he contemplates the symbols. "This will become your legacy."

"I know," She says, sighing quietly and nodding to him – "This is an endless cycle, and our hidden HiME has simply been pulled into a cycle some time in the future."

"Why do you think that it's the future?" He asks, the book slipping almost comically to one side as he gives her a lopsided grin that does little to hide the cruelty in his eyes. He as killed before, and as soon as the Dark Lord rises, she will loose him as an ally. She dreads that moment, and wishes that she hadn't been so forward and so open with him in the past, for he is forcing her hand even more.

"Because of the way she fights. That sort of training has never been taught in any part of this world at this point in time."

"Oh, that would make sense."

They grow silent, each contemplating the best way to lure the girl who replaced Fujino Shizuru to this place, to banish her from this plane of existence.


	17. Plunging Deeper

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Seventeen**

Before anyone says anything, yes, it's been nearly a year, yes I know. I'm sorry that it's taken me this long to put my thoughts together for this chapter, because I honestly didn't know what I needed to have happen. Now I think it makes everything seem even more dire than before. This story is winding to a close, as I've always intended it to. I just hope you won't think the ending is too lame.

* * *

_Aries Consulate, Wind City, Windbloom_

Yukino Chrysant moved through the halls of the Aries Consulate in Windbloom City with a new-found sense of purpose. She knew, perhaps better than most people at this point, what sort of a precarious road they were walking down. The sense of dread that had started to settle in when that girl first appeared and Shizuru Viola vanished into nothingness. She'd arrived earlier that morning, and knew that her political situation was as haphazard as anything else. She was fully in control of what was happening, but somehow she needed more. She felt an incredible urge to protect every one of her countrymen, her fellow humans.

And Haruka, Haruka perhaps most of all. She didn't understand that urge, because it honestly made no sense; Haruka was bound to her to protect her. To think it the other way around would be to violate the way that an Otome thinks about their Master. Yukino did not want to risk that.

Her position was so precarious now. 

Yukino blinked sleepily and moved through the hallways, trying in vain to put her head back into its nice, compartmentalized way of looking at the world. She had no reason to be worried, no reason at all. She was in control, completely and totally. She just needed to figure out what would make everything stop spiraling downwards in the way that it was.

She hated it. It made her feel powerless.

"Madame President!" One of Yukino's personal aides called as she walked past the open doorway to the room that was functioning as her office until her return to Aries proper. That would not happen, however, until this whole mess was sorted out. "The finance reports are in and we need to go over them to make sure that the budget is again in the positive this year."

Yukino sighed, for there really was no rest for the work she had to do. She'd been elected president because she was simply the most qualified at the time. She didn't like some of the work that she had to do, but she was willing to do it for the good of everyone. "Alright, I'll be in in a minute." She straightened her tie and took a minute to compose her self. Hysterical breakdowns were not welcome in her line of work.

The growing feeling of dread, however, was not something that Yukino could face. She wanted to hide, run into Haruka's arms and never look back.

She was a coward.

She stepped through the door of her office, a few brief seconds later. "Shall we begin?" She smiled as best she could, as the feeling of dread hit her once more. There was nothing scary about the budget, she told herself again and again. The only terrifying things were those eyes that she saw in her dreams.

Dead eyes.

-

_Gaulderobe, Wind City, Windbloom_

Nina had returned from her self-imposed exile because her onee-sama had asked her to. There was very little that she knew about what the current problem, as Nao was very purposefully not informing her of anything. She'd resolved to simply walk around and find out what she could from the Pearl class.

She moved through the once familiar halls of Gaulderobe, marveling at the fact that she still knew her way around. Nao had a meeting with Headmaster Kruger, and had since vanished into one of the large conference rooms on the third floor. Because of the late hour, the Pearl class was milling about, discussing this and that; not really doing anything. As she walked by them, however, their conversations fell to a hush.

Nina sighed. Reputation clearly wasn't everything.

"--she doing here?" One of the students demanded as Nina tried to cut through the mass of students. 

"Dunno." Said another, "But she's certainly stepping on someone's toes, being here."

"_Far_ too powerful, that one." Yet another voice cut in. 

Nina closed her eyes and pressed on. She could handle this, carefully, articulately, better than all these little girls. She was a woman, far better than anything they had to offer. If they continued their training, they would never be anything but a girl if they continued on with this horrid charade of being 'protectors' when the only thing they were was innocent.

They had never spilled first blood, last blood. Nothing to make them the warriors they were supposed to be. They were pure, and that was all that the nanomachines needed to work on their bodies.

Nina gritted her teeth to keep herself from saying anything. She could feel the waves of purity lingering all around her. And yet there was one other presence, a presence as tainted and disturbed as her own. She was drawn to it, like moth to a flame.  
The lingering effects of the Harmonium were still on her, and yet she could do nothing to stop the incredible drawing of herself to the power. So much negative, hateful energy, all in one place. Self-loathing and confusion.

Nina couldn't help herself. She drank in that power, for nothing was sweeter.

--

Natsuki Kruger was trying to explain things to Nao in a way that would make sense. Nao had been foolish enough to bring that tainted being, Nina Wang, back into their fold with hopes that _she_ of all people would be able to figure out how to fix this crisis they were in. 

Nao's logic had been simple, and if Natsuki was not terrified all the time that somehow she would mess up the precarious truth that she had established with Fujino Shizuru. There was so much pain hidden in that girl, and something else as well, something barely veiled beneath the surface.

Natsuki hoped that she would be able to fix this. Mikoto had had an idea of how, and it seemed to be that it might actually work. The idea had been presented to the Aries consulate as well and President Chrysant among others seemed to think that it would work quite well.

Mikoto had said, between large mouthfuls of rice, that perhaps the best way to reverse whatever ancient magic they'd accidentally triggered would be to simply go back to the site of the Katsu Ruins and find out if it would be possible to reverse the process by exposing Fujino the space where Viola had disappeared.

The gathering, Mikoto had added, was not destined to start for a long time, and Fujino's presence in this world had pushed events into motion that could not be stopped unless her presence was eliminated completely. The world, apparently, wasn't quite ready for the chaos that this 'gathering' would kick into action. Not all of the souls had made it through the vortex of time yet, to be reborn.

If this idea didn't work, Mikoto had resolved that it was best if she just kill Fujino before any more trouble could be caused. Natsuki had objected loudly and violently to that. Shizuru in any shape or form was still Shizuru and to kill her would be killing a part of Natsuki's soul that she didn't think she could get back very easily.

Mikoto's face had hardened at that, an expression that aged her so severely that it was almost shocking. She had looked at Natsuki and President Chrysant with a long-suffering look that told both of them quite plainly that she would not take no for an answer in this particular matter. "It doesn't matter what you think," She had said, "You, with your nanomachines and technology are no match to what she is. The true, the original."

Natsuki didn't understand what that meant, nor, as she was quickly discovering, did Nao. Nao sat with her arms crossed sullenly across her chest, a thoughtful look on her face. "It doesn't make any sense." She said at last.

"I know," Natsuki ran a hand through her hair tiredly and tried not to think of the young woman that she'd left in her office, reading a novel and drinking tea. She was beautiful in the dangerous way that told Natsuki to run in the other direction. Run, or forever be caught in her web. She wanted her Shizuru back, the shameless flirt and brilliant partner that she was. This new Shizuru worried her and did not do nearly enough to quell Natsuki's fears for the world. Especially if what Mikoto was hinting at were true. "I don't understand how her presence is altering the world's structure or setting events in motion that will eventually destroy the current peace. It just doesn't make any sense."

Natsuki frowned, she hated the feeling of powerlessness, the out of control feeling that plagued her very existence these days.

Nao looked up, "You must realize that Fujino carries a lot more power around than most normal humans."

Natsuki nodded, "I just don't know if she'll go back to the Ruins willingly. I think she likes it here, whatever tormented her in the past is long gone - a distant whisper of foreign memory."

"Perhaps that is why we have to fear her." Nao's eyes were clear, but Natsuki could see the barely veiled terror behind them. Out of all of the persons involved in the attempt to get Fujino back to wherever it was that she came from; only Nao had actually come into physical conflict with her. Nao understood why it was a bad idea to push whatever semblance of the sanity that both Mikoto and Natsuki had seen that Fujino was just barely cling to. She had the right to be afraid.

"Gakuenchou," Nao said, sitting up, "Something else. She lifted the hem of her skirt and showed Natsuki something that she had seen several times now.

Upon seeing the strange hook-like symbol that both of them had seen so clearly painted upon the wall of the Katsu Ruins, Natsuki inhaled sharply. "What does that mean?" She asked, started.

"I don't know." Nao admitted, and Natsuki could sense the honesty in her tone. "All I know is that if we don't figure out how to get her back soon something worse - far worse will happen."

Natsuki nodded, "We'll go back to the Ruins before the week is out."


	18. Psych Out

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Eighteen**

So much great feedback, two chapters left!

* * *

_Outskirts of _ _Wind__City__, Windbloom  
_

The cat-god formally known as Mikoto sat watching the sunset with a veiled expression on her face. There was very little that she could do or say that would make the situation better - but she knew that it was her prerogative to try everything. To take away one of the two lovers without killing both was suicide and neither would go down, in this world it seemed, without a fight.

Mikoto was worried. Mai could do little to help her now, and Mikoto had sent her pet Otome back to the Black Valley where things would at least be easier for her. She wanted Mai to have no part in this, in this slow and painful transformation to the world at war.

The world was changing at an alarming pace. She'd been able to summon Miroku without so much as an effort, which suggested that there was far more going on under the surface. The Queen and the Jester had opened up their court once more for the puppet master's playing - and it would end, end soon.

Mikoto was fairly sure that simply killing Fujino would solve most of the problems for this time, this dimension that she had chosen for her home. Mikoto no longer cared about people so long dead in the past that their ashes had long since become trees and people of their own. And yet, somehow, the fleeting memory of a girl who looked so much like Gakuenchou Kruger flitted through her mind; and Mikoto knew that that girl would die as well, should her soul-mate perish in this world.

Mikoto hated to play the god that she'd become. She lashed out, kicking a stone on the ground before her far out across the high cliffs that surrounded the city-capital of Windbloom. It echoed quietly as it fell, falling as Mikoto's anguish fell - silent. No one could understand what Mikoto was feeling now - for the terror and the panic were starting to set in for her as well.

Fujino Shizuru had never been one that she'd fought in the past, as Fujino had been occupied with far nastier foes. Yuuki and Kikugawa had fallen quickly under her blade, before Fujino had turned her attention to the ancient order intent on keeping up the 'carnival' alive. They too had fallen, old women, murdered in cold blood.

Yes, Mikoto knew that Fujino Shizuru was not the soft-spoken and timidly broken girl that had fallen though the wall in the Katsu Ruins. She was playing her part well, acclimating herself with a society so as to win herself a new place.

She had to go back, to face what she had done.

_To die for love._ Mikoto closed her eyes. There was little that could be said for what could be called Fujino's honorable demise. It was so poetic and Mikoto did not want to tarnish that memory (one of the few good she had for that time) with a grisly murder in an unknown world.

It simply did not have the flair that the 'carnival' so needed.'

Mikoto stared out into the growing darkness, her ears picking up on a newcomer to her craggy bit of rock, overlooking the desert. It would be rude not to say anything, but Mikoto thought it good for her companion to think that it had gotten away with sneaking up on her.

"A storm is coming, Minagi." The cyborg form of Miyu, still alive after all these years made her way slowly up the rock face towards Mikoto. "A storm that hasn't happened here since the Twelve Kingdoms War."

Mikoto nodded her agreement, "The storm comes early, however."

Miyu's facial features fell a little as she stared at Mikoto. It was strange to think that this cyborg form had been alive for as long as Mikoto, and that her memory was just as long. "The storm comes all the same, stronger and fiercer than ever. It will consume this planet."

That, Mikoto had no doubt of. She was not, however, going to give away that tidbit of information to the cyborg without an equal exchange.

Once an enemy, always an enemy, it seemed.

"It is amazing," Miyu continued, coming to stand next to Mikoto, "what the presence of the Kaichou has done to this universe. I can feel the stirrings of the children already. They are reawakening. You must stop this before it gets out of hand."

"We have a plan." Mikoto said grimly, "A plan that will work without a doubt. And if that fails ---"

"You will kill her," Miyu finished.

Mikoto sometimes wondered if it was possible for a machine to read a human's thoughts.

-

_Gaulderobe, _ _Wind__City__, Windbloom _

The headmaster's study was filled with the last dying rays of sunlight as Natsuki Kruger finally returned from a long day of meetings. She wanted nothing more than to see Shizuru, to have a cup of tea and then a quiet dinner together; but this was not to happen.

No, she had to tell this teenaged version of her lover that they'd finally come up with a way of potentially returning her to her home-world. There was no guarantee that their idea would bring back _her_ Shizuru, however, and it was not something that Natsuki was allowing herself to think about right now. She couldn't bear the thought of being alone - at least this Shizuru was something, a familiar face if not anything else.

The fact that she had rationalized keeping Fujino around was enough to tell Kruger that she had to go, once and for all.

It was a strange set of emotions that Natsuki Kruger felt crossing her face as she walked into her study and found herself face to face with Fujino Shizuru.

"How was your day?" The girl asked lightly in that accent of her's. It was so similar to the way that Viola sometimes spoke - so close, and yet there were discrepancies. Natsuki knew that she had to start separating them in her mind or she would never be able to go through with their plans should their idea fail.

"Meetings." Natsuki grunted, pulling off her jacket and tossing it over the back of her chair. She stretched, raising her arms high over her head before tipping forward and falling into a succession of fast push ups. She had energy to kill.

Usually, when this happened, Natsuki would take Shizuru to bed or perhaps to spar. Natsuki missed that, missed the banter and the press of bodies against each other.

She stopped at thirty and rolled over to sit on the floor. "They think they've found a way to return you to wherever - or whenever - you came from."

Fujino was silent, not meeting Natsuki's eye as she fussed with arranging the cover on her book to be just right. Obviously, Natsuki reasoned, there was something on her mind. Perhaps she did not want to leave; perhaps what she was going back to was far worse.

"Hey," She said, standing up and crossing over to the couch where Fujino was sitting. "It can't be all that bad, where you came from."

"Natsuki has no idea, no idea what I've done to her, especially." Fujino babbled quickly, not meeting Natsuki's eyes. "I can't go back, I won't."

"You have to, Shizuru." Natsuki said, resting her hand on Fujino's shoulder. She felt strange doing this for the first time. Mikoto had given her some details of what this girl had most likely done just before she'd been pulled into this world - and none of the details were things that Kruger thought her particular capable of, but apparently that was Fujino's skill. "It's no good for you, staying here. I can't be who you need me to be."

Fujino looked up at that. "You're more than I could ever want you to be, Natsuki, I don't deserve you."

Natsuki sighed, the girl had a way with words, "I'm sure that your Natsuki feels the same way about you, but I'm not that person. I have to get you back to your world so that you can make things right."

Fujino stared at Natsuki, her hands clenching and unclenching as if around an invisible weapon. Natsuki's eyes narrowed as she watched the flicker of red and sharp blade fade in and out of reality. "I break everything I touch; I can't even make Natsuki love me."

Natsuki smiled, "I'm stubborn as a mule and thicker than mud, Shizuru; sometimes it takes me a while to see what's right in front of my eyes."

Fujino blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever come out and asked your Natsuki if she loves you, or have you just gone on pining for her? Because if she's anything like me, she won't notice until you actually come out and say something to her." Natsuki knew that this was fool's errand; because there was no way that she could fix this girl. That duty belonged to another who shared her face and appearance.

"No." Fujino said softly. "But if Natsuki were able to send me back, I'd be sure to try it." There was something lighter in her tone, something that Natsuki had not heard before. She almost sounded like the Viola that Natsuki remembered from that age.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Natsuki barked, as this was not their private quarters, but rather the Gakuenchou's study. Most likely, this was Gaulderobe business.

Nina Wang came through the doorway, followed by a rather put-out looking Nao. Natsuki felt Fujino tense beside her as Nao walked into the room and wondered yet again what it was that made Fujino so opposed to Nao.

"Sorry, Kruger, I couldn't stop her." Nao said, with an exaggerated shrug. "She wanted to see Fujino."

"It's her." Nina said quietly, her voice sounding distant. "She reeks of death the same way that I do. She has the Harmonium's mark on her."

Natsuki balked. To have that sort of mark, one had to murder hundreds in cold blood. Mikoto had mentioned that Fujino had killed, but so many!

She hoped to whatever gods still existed that it wasn't true.

"Ara..." Fujino said, "It seems that Nao-san has brought a friend."

Natsuki nodded. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth, "and if Nao-san has any sense at all, she will turn around and walk away right now, hopefully taking Nina with her."

Nao looked offended, but it was Fujino who commented, "Natsuki, I know that Nao-san will not hurt me; it is merely her face that triggers bad memories for me."

Natsuki did not look at her as she replied, "I just need to get you back to where you come from. Nao is obstructing the door."

"Ara-ara. Then perhaps Nao-san should merely be asked to move."

"Perhaps." Natsuki agreed.

Nina Wang watched with dead eyes as Natsuki walked over to her desk and grabbed her coat. Pulling it on with a flourish that one only acquired with years of practice, Natsuki offered Fujino her arm and lead them out of her study. "We go at once," Natsuki said quite curtly to Nao on her way out.

"She has dead eyes." Nina commented as they walked by. Natsuki was not fool enough to miss the glare and death threat that Nao's eyes shot in her general direction.

"Natsuki is so gallant." Fujino commented absently, running her fingers along the seam of Natsuki's jacket. "I shall miss playing the lady."

"And I shall miss you, Miss Fujino," Natsuki said as amicably as she could, touching her ear. "Materialize."

-

_Underground Network, _ _Wind__City__, Windbloom _

Yukino Chrysant had been wandering the underground tunnels that connected much of Wind City to the Harmonium Chamber. There'd been a great effort to excavate this underground city as a way of looking into the history of the people who'd lived in Windbloom before the current residents.

The darkness and the quiet had been nice for a long time, but now Yukino felt the oddest sensation that she was no alone. She did not feel threatened by the presence; rather it was like that of an old friend, only just recently found anew.

She welcomed the sensation, as Haruka was back in Aries, preparing some battalion for a major operation in the far south. The sensation was similar to Haruka's presence, but different, as if Yukino had known this one longer.

"Hello?" She called out, her voice shaking a little in the darkness. "Who's there?"

There was no response.

The mark on Yukino's arm, the strange, hook-like symbol that had suddenly appeared began to burn. Yukino gasped and raised her hand up to touch it.

There was a mirror in front of her.

She reached out to touch it.


	19. Return

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Nineteen**

_So many kind words, I don't know how to thank you all._

* * *

_Katsu Ruins, Altai-Aries Border _

Natsuki Kruger quite enjoyed flying, truth be told; but there was something in the air today that completely ruined whatever sentimental feelings Natsuki had for the action. The underlying tension of this particular journey could be cut through with a knife, as Natsuki knew that she would have to go through with the final killing blow, should this plan fail. She shifted uncomfortably, painfully aware, for perhaps the first time, that this was not the same person she had fallen in love with all those years ago at school.

Fujino was moving around, making it hard for Natsuki to keep a good grasp on her as they flew the distance between Windbloom and the Aries-Altai border. Natsuki was nervous. She knew that a lot rested on her shoulders, and that she needed to get this right or not at all, considering that fact that the alternative meant death to young Fujino.

Natsuki sighed, and used her free arm to straighten the earpiece that connected to the short-wave radio that she'd been given before she left Windbloom city by a rather flustered Nao. Apparently, Natsuki's decision to simply go through with the plan had not provided Gaulderobe intelligence enough time to invent a cover mission for her; and as they'd kept Viola's disappearance quiet, they needed all the excuses they could get.

Natsuki was nervous for anther reason as well. She'd have to fly over the Demilitarized-Zone between the two formerly warring countries and as a declared 'neutral' Otome; Natsuki could and would be considered a threat.

Natsuki hated the diplomatic hoops that she sometimes had to jump through to do her job. It was her duty to train Otome, to keep them innocent vessels, away from everyone and everything could possibly ruin their chances of being selected to serve.

She thought back to her father's decision that she, the youngest of three daughters, would go into the Otome service. How she'd hated the man, for years afterwards. It was as if her father had somehow managed to take away from her the one thing that had made her a real and good human being - her ability to call herself a woman.

In her conversations with Nina Wang after the incident with the Harmonium, Natsuki had learned that the instrument of death did far more to a person than make them kill indiscriminately. It was an amazing way of gaining perspective. Nina had had some rather cutting things to say about the Otome system, about why it did not work, and how perhaps it could be improved.

At that point, it had behooved Natsuki to ignore her pleas, but as she watched Fujino acclimate herself to their society as best she could - she realized that no child should be forced to fight or kill against their will. She'd already revised her admissions policy to the school, stating that only students who actually wanted to and understood the full burden of an Otome's duty would be allowed to take the entrance examinations.

"What are you thinking about?" Fujino asked, craning her neck around to look at Natsuki as they flew on. She'd tied her hair back when Natsuki had told her they were to fly again, but strands had come loose during the journey, giving Fujino the disheveled look that somehow made Natsuki think her dashing.

Natsuki shook her head to clear it of the thoughts that were now flitting through it. She could not think of Fujino that way. She'd already slipped up once, allowing herself to fall into the abyss of self-denial, of regret.

She was taking Fujino to what might well be her death, and yet she could somehow not bring herself to be honest about how she felt about this girl.

"Nothing," Natsuki said gruffly, turning her attention back to the terrain below them and the wind currents around them. She dove downwards, her robe fluttering slightly in the wind as she did so. She would have to fly low over the Demilitarized-Zone, should she not want to attract gunfire and be in the range of the short-wave radio she had brought with them for this specific purpose.

"Aries National Army Base DMZ-5-oh-3 come in," Natsuki barked into the mouthpiece clipped to her ear.

"This is Aries Base DMZ-503, Identify yourself." Came the scratchy reply.

"Gaulderobe Column Number Two, on assignment to the ruins visited earlier this month." Natsuki responded, shouting slightly over the rush of the wind, " Mission code Alpha, Charlie, Three, Seven dash Oh dash Nineteen. Authorization Code Pink."

There was a brief delay before army base so far below them responded. Natsuki guessed that they were checking the Gaulderobe mission log that the Aries Army had had access to ever since the war. It had something to do with the treaty that had been signed after the war by the Queen of Windbloom. "Madame Headmistress, it is an honor to have you within our territory again. Will you be requiring an escort?"

Natsuki smiled, they always attempted to kiss her ass after realizing who she was. It was odd to think that the third child of a rather unimportant northern dukedom had suddenly risen to have a position of such power almost anywhere else in the world.

If only her father had not died before she'd been appointed to her current title. That would have shown him.

Fujino gave Natsuki a question as the headmistress replied in the negative and broke off communications with the Aries army. "Why did Natsuki require clearance to fly over this area?"

"There was a war between the two countries on which the ruins rest upon, a war that was fought very recently. This is a Demilitarized-Zone. Technically, only Gaulderobe has the ability to breach it at the moment." Natsuki explained. It was so easy to forget that Fujino had no knowledge of their world aside from what she been exposed to in her short stay. Natsuki hated to admit that she wished Fujino knew more, but it certainly would make conversations easier.

"I had no idea Natsuki was such an important person." Fujino admitted quietly.

Natsuki laughed quietly, "It's nothing, really. I was chosen by Fumi-sama for this position, I did not ask for it. My term is only ten years, and then if I'm reappointed, I can stay in power. Most likely I won't be reappointed, however."

Fujino shook her head disbelievingly, "I think that Natsuki underestimates herself. I've seen how the students here look at you. You're powerful and charismatic; you carry more influence than you think."

Natsuki blinked, "How did you become so well-versed in politics as a student?"

Fujino did not meet Natsuki's eyes as she replied, "My ... father ... wanted me to learn."

The rest of the journey was silent expect for a brief conversation with the Altai Royal Navy Base Commander to confirm her clearance. Natsuki Kruger was glad of the silence, for she did not know how best to begin the goodbye she was about to be required to say.

Goodbyes were not something Natsuki did easily. She and Shizuru Viola never said goodbye to each other before either of them went away on Gaulderobe business. Those nights were silent expect for the passion the two of them had for each other. Natsuki never said goodbye, Shizuru said, because Natsuki knew it never was. The separation the previous year had been so hard, not knowing what was happening, being trapped fighting a war with no clear enemy was a situation Natsuki never wanted to be in again.

They landed and Natsuki let her robe fall away to her normal clothing. Fujino was looking around curiously at the battered walls and odd concrete structure of the ruins.

"Fu- Shizuru." Natsuki began, trying to piece together the words that she needed to say in order to get this right.

"Yes, Natsuki?" Shizuru asked. She looked so formal, regal even. Natsuki wondered if the girl who wore her face in Fujino's world saw Fujino this way as well. Untouchable, unobtainable and so incredibly beautiful.

"Whatever you're going back to, I want you to promise me that you will try to make it work. Mikoto said that you'd done some horrible things, but I think I figured that out on my own. She said that the person who'd managed to pull you back from the brink of insanity was the same person you'd been fated to love since the dawn of time." Natsuki ran a hand through her hair. She was awful at explain these things in any way that made even the slightest semblance of sense. She just wanted to send Fujino away, if Mikoto's hunch proved to be correct, with the impression that she could indeed get through whatever it was that she had to get through.

"I could never tell you what I've been through. It would hurt Natsuki too much." Fujino's accent became far thicker, almost to the point of being completely incomprehensible when she was upset. Natsuki wondered just how troubled the girl was at this point.

Natsuki offered Fujino a hand, "I don't want you to tell me, I just want you to know that when you're ready, you should tell your Natsuki. If she's anything like me, she'll want to help you."

Fujino took Natsuki's outstretched hand, her palm sweaty. Natsuki squeezed it as comfortingly as she could and turned towards the entrance of the Katsu Ruins.

"We go in now."

-

Fujino Shizuru was starting to panic. Natsuki Kruger was being so loving to her, and the emotion was almost as completely alien as the action. _Her_ Natsuki was always loving, but in her own distant sort of way. They were so domestic with each other than the grandeur and chivalric nature of _this_ Natsuki was setting Shizuru on edge.

She allowed herself to be lead into the dark, tunnel-like entrance of the crumbling structure known as the Katsu Ruins. It was strange, the smell of death, of age old-mold and dry rot made Shizuru's nose wrinkle as they pressed deeper into the ruin.

The symbols on the wall were painfully familiar to Shizuru, the large HiME-mark painted in faded paint that once might have been called blood red. She could see the Children painted in their most primal animalistic representations on the wall. Each of the twelve had their own separate area.

Except for Kiyohime, Shizuru noted with narrowed eyes, "This is a tomb."

"Really?" Natsuki Kruger sounded interested as she looked around. "I don't seen any bodies, how do you know?"

Shizuru closed her eyes, for she could see the power radiating off the walls and it was making her feel ill. She felt unwelcome in this place, when she knew she should be feeling at least _recognized_. "This is a tomb to the souls lost in the carnival."

Kruger gave her a befuddled sort of look that made her look ten years older and a great deal more dignified - as well as adorable.

A wolf and a snake intertwined together. The characters carved into the wall read, "The lovers. Neither can live without the other. Both live because the other survives." Shizuru stared at the marking. Duran was right there, intertwined with Kiyohime, as she so longed to be with her Natsuki.

Kruger pointed to that particular painting, "Shizuru - ah - _Viola_ was getting a better look at that particular picture when she vanished. We guessed that if you were to touch the wall in the same place, that you'd most likely trigger the same sort of magic." Kruger gulped, as through she was fighting for the words, "Because you're the same as her."

There. Shizuru felt that she was positive she'd finally figured it out. This whole process, what had happened. She must have simply been displaced by another incarnation of her same soul.

"Natsuki puts so much faith into a simple gesture." Shizuru said, wanting to delay the inevitable, the return to that i war /i that she knew she was doomed not to survive. She'd go as far as she could for Natsuki, but in the end she would fall to someone who had not sinned as much as she had. "Perhaps there is more to it."

Natsuki smiled, placing a hand on Shizuru's shoulder and pulling her in for a tight hug. It was a shocking feeling, to be so close to her with Natsuki's permission. Shizuru was not really sure why, however, as she'd been that close to this particular Natsuki before.

Maybe it was this ruin, this awful place.

Shizuru felt a hand on her chin, tipping her face up to accommodate the slight height difference between the two of them. "Should this not work, should you vanish and never return to me again, know that I will always love you." Kruger said with all the honesty of a lover bidding a tearful farewell.

As she leaned down, Fujino noticed that there were tears in Natsuki's eyes. She hated that she'd made her cry.

Soon though, Natsuki's lips on her own, kissing deeply, a passionate kiss that said everything that needed to be said, and then more - made Shizuru forget her regrets. "I love you, Natsuki," She muttered into the kiss, reaching out as she did, "Always and forever."

She placed her palm flat against the wall of the ruin, on the middle of the snake that represented her Child, her avatar, and willed herself to vanish and return in her own time.

She would prove to Natsuki that she loved her.

-

Natsuki Kruger was kissing the air. Green sparkles fluttered around her as she stood alone in the damp darkness of the cold unforgiving shell of the Katsu Ruins.

Fujino had vanished, but there was no sign of Shizuru.


	20. Reunite

**The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, Chapter Twenty  
**

* * *

_Fuuka__Academy__, Northern Campus _ _Woods__, Japan_

The process was beginning again. Where it had tapered off - with so many souls already dead and the final key piece of the puzzle suddenly gone from this universe - it now returned in fervor. They could do very little but watch. The Joker sat high above the scene, nestled in a tree, a book clenched tightly in his hand. He knew that he could not interfere, or even interact with the person who had stolen Fujino's face – but oh!- how he wanted to. He exhaled quietly and watched the scene unfold.

A girl revved a motorcycle in the silence that had fallen upon the academy. Everyone was leaving, or had already left. There had just been too many accidents and this small island city was now under direct control of the military or something akin to that. "We have to go back there." She said to her companion, a honey-haired woman a good head and a half taller than her.

Her companion nodded, but said nothing, her eyes were wary of her surroundings and her ears straining for any sound at all that could possibly imply an imminent attack. They had to be on their guard, for this battle was not something that could easily be trifled with. From what had been gathered during her short stay in this particular reality, there was much here that did not meet the eye. School children killing children as if there were no contest – a war to protect people that may or not be imagined; it was all sickening to her.

The roar of the motorcycle's engine was the only sound that cut through the silence. Not even the birds were bothering to chirp any more, as they too had vacated the premises.

"How do you know?" The taller of the two asked, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and leaning in against her as they motorcycle shot forward at an alarming pace.

The girl didn't really need to reply. It was obvious by the faintly hysterical tone in her voice and the way that they were going down the road at a breakneck pace that was likely to kill them both, should they not have been incredibly durable individuals.

There was a sense of urgency in their actions that replaced the panicked and frantic motions of their earlier interactions. The war was going to start again; this was just a brief lull in the action.

The building was deep under Fuuka Academy's grounds, hidden behind a complicated network of tunnels and false trails. It had been a wonder that either of them had ever found their way out of there in the first place.

Kuga Natsuki slowed the motorcycle to a halt and all but jumped off of it, Duran close on her heels. She had to hurry, for she was not sure how much longer the dwindling pull of the bond that she and Shizuru shared would direct her towards the girl.

The woman who wore Shizuru's face, the one person who had tried to make right the wrongs of this war in Natsuki's mind, followed at a distance, looking around at the building with the same analytically critical eye that she looked at everything. Natsuki found it somewhat unnerving to be under that sort of scrutiny - but as the woman was a formidable opponent, she put up with the long lingering looks.

Truth be told, Natsuki was not really sure what to make of this woman – who had appeared just as suddenly as her Shizuru had vanished. There was no rhyme or reason as to why she did the things she did, or how she had learned to _fight_ like that. Natsuki was almost envious of this new Shizuru's skill with a blade.

Natsuki allowed herself to open her heart and let the burning feeling on the small of her back guide her forward. The HiME-mark was burning stronger than it ever had before, the closer she got to her goal.

Natsuki had seen the paintings on the wall of that room, the images telling the story of the carnival as clear to anyone who could actually read the language. It was informative to say the least; and Natsuki was suddenly able to predict how the battle would end, and who would be the one to stare down the darkness that awaited the victor of the carnival. It would not be her, however, the writings said. She was destined to die far earlier. The new Shizuru, Viola really, could not read the prophesy carved on the wall, and Natsuki did not dare approach any of the other HiME with her suspicions about the carnival. The war was still going on, and it was up to Natsuki to play her part correctly. Viola, however, was proficient in most other languages that Natsuki knew in passing - and her skills with English were almost as good as Mai's.

The wolf intertwined with the snake. Two symbols that Natsuki knew well, and their meaning was far from lost on her. With those symbols, Natsuki had already determined her fate, should her Shizuru ever return to this world. She was to die in the arms of the one person she had ever found the ability to love in her life. Natsuki was terrified at that concept. Whoever won would have to make sure to bring them all back – because that was what the victor of the carnival got, according to Nagi, a chance to make things right.

Dying for love was far too romantic an idea for Natsuki and she'd scoffed at it when Viola had first mentioned it, but the more she thought about it, the more attractive it sounded.

She was, as Viola had put it, a teenager at the most awkward stage of her life.

"Oh my, she's wearing my coat." Viola said, pointing to a small form curled up on floor wearing a ridiculous purple coat not unlike the odd dress that Viola had shown up in this world wearing. "I wonder why Natsuki would willingly loan it to her."

Natsuki looked up at the mention of her name, but she was far too distracted to really digest what Viola was saying. Her heart racing, she moved over to the prone form on the ground. "Shizuru! Shizuru!" It was a desperate move, but one that Natsuki so desperately needed.

Shizuru couldn't be dead. The lifelessness of her face was enough to suggest that she was. Natsuki touched her shoulder, feeling the thickness of the jacket she was wearing and noting the girl's deathly pale face.

"Is she dead?" Natsuki demanded as Viola came over to inspect Shizuru more closely. Natsuki's hands were feeling for a pulse of their own accord. She couldn't be dead! There, it was faint, but definitely there.

A steady beat against her two pressed fingers.

"She's not dead." Viola confirmed, "But I don't think we should try to revive her while I'm here."

Natsuki pulled off her jacket and draped it over the girl. She turned to stare at Viola who was obviously fretting about something. "What?" She demanded as Viola cast yet another long look in her direction.

"How can two people who are the same be in the same place at the same time?" Viola wondered, drawing a hand over the painted images of shrine. She was looking again at the image of the wolf and the snake.

Duran gave a low whine from the corner.

"Don't -" Natsuki began, but Viola had already pressed her hand against the wall, against the image of the snake. Viola's gaze lingered on Natsuki as she vanished, her lips barely managing to form the word that Natsuki knew was on them.

_Goodbye. _

From under her jacket, Shizuru moaned and Natsuki's attention was suddenly drawn back to the present moment, back to the task at hand. "Shizuru?" Natsuki called, bending over her friend, the most important person to her in the whole world. "Shizuru are you alright?"

"Na-Natsuki?" Shizuru's voice was as raw sounding as the pounding in Natsuki's chest, splitting it in two.

"I thought I'd never see you again."

-

_Aries Airspace_

The ruins were silent. No one had been in them in two days when someone finally decided to call another column into the picture. Juliet Nao Zhang was not amused at the fact that she was being sent to _retrieve_ the head of Gaulderobe, who had somehow managed to forget herself to the point of not even bothering to radio in that she would be a few days out at that smoldering cave that was causing so much suffering among the people of this world.

The rumblings, as the catlike girl that they'd met on their teak to Aries the previous year, had died down. It seemed that everything was slowly turning back to normal, everything, it seemed, except the mark that was now seared into the skin of Nao's right calf.

She flew with an agitated sort of urgency. She had to know if Kruger had been successfully and had found some nice little bed and breakfast to shack up with Viola for a few days to recover not being together for as long as they'd been apart. She hoped that was the case, but somehow, the sinking sensation of what Nao actually anticipated to be the end of this journey.

Shizuru Viola would not return.

Nao urged herself forward once again, her pace quickening to the point where her Robe began to groan a little in protest, the nanomachines in her bloodstream moving a little to quickly for her liking.

-

_The Katsu Ruins, Aries-Altai Border_

Natsuki Kruger was sitting in the dark, a silent vigil, waiting for something to happen. She knew that it would only be a matter of time until the waiting would give fruit to something. She knew it had to.

She closed her eyes, "I'm bad at this, Shizuru." Tilting her head backwards and resting it against the rough wall of the ruin, Natsuki wondered what she'd do without Shizuru - would she still be able to function the same way that she'd been able to before she'd met the woman? Natsuki somehow did not think that she would ever be the same, alone in this world for what felt like the first time.

Mikoto had hinted that there was more to Shizuru and Natsuki's personal relationship than met the eye, as if a cat-god who cared only of food could actually claim a real understanding of that sort of thing. Natsuki guarded her heart the way that she guarded her students.

She was the wolf, fiercely protective.

Shizuru was the snake, cunning and calculating. Natsuki wondered when they had fallen into the roles depicted on the walls of this god-forsaken place. They were archetypes of power, souls that managed to withstand the burden of ages.

Natsuki felt a tear run down the side of her face. She was crying again, this was the third time now.

"What would the world think of the Gakuenchou now?" She muttered, wiping her eyes on her shirtsleeve. She was a mess, a complete mess because of this.

She just wanted her back.

She'd do anything.

"Oi! Kruger!" Natsuki's eyes flew open but she did not move from where she'd slumped against the wall. "Kruger?"

The robed form of Nao was visible behind the haze of tears. She looked windblown, as though she'd traveled many miles in a short period of time.

"Natsuki, you can't do this; we need you back at the school." Nao was pulling on her sleeve, trying to get her to stand up. Natsuki fully intoned to not make it easy for her.

"I don't care."

"Come on Kruger, you care more than anyone else. This was a fool's errand to begin with." Nao said, pulling once again.

"She's gone, isn't she?" Natsuki demanded. "Leave me alone. Gaulderobe can survive without me for a few days."

"Hiding in a hole won't change the present. She didn't come back. You have to get out of here before this ruin consumes you like it did her." Nao insisted. She let her robe fall away and Natsuki could see that she was still was wearing the same clothes she had been when they had left.

What seemed to have been ages ago.

"Leave." Natsuki could not take having Nao here. She wanted to be alone, Shizuru would come back, she had to. Natsuki refused to believe that the girl that had left just a few hours ago had been the last chance she'd ever have to see Shizuru. "Leave me to my grief."

"No."

"As your superior officer, and a ranking member of the nobility of your home-country I order you go away." Natsuki gritted her teeth, not looking at Nao. She couldn't meet her eyes, for Natsuki knew she would give up then.

Nao exhaled sharply, a huff of annoyance. "I will bring back General Armitage if I have to, Kruger."

"And I will tell her to go away just the same."

Nao 'harrumphed' and turned on her heel, stalking away from Natsuki and muttering all sorts of threats in her native tongue.

Natsuki welcomed the quiet of Nao storming off in a huff, it was a welcome change from the way that those sorts of arguments usually ended. Had this been any other time, Natsuki would have relished her defeat of Nao's strong-willed nature; but she was far too worried to think of anything but Shizuru.

"Come back to me," She muttered, standing before the picture of the wolf and the snake on the wall. "I don't think I could live without you."

There was a delicate cough behind her and Natsuki spun around so fast that her hair ripped around her face, clouding her eyes and obstructing her vision to the point where Natsuki felt defenseless.

"Who?" Natsuki called, batting at her hair, trying to fix her field of vision.

"If you have to ask, perhaps I should just leave for a little while longer." Came the familiar voice that Natsuki recognized so well.

"You --" Natsuki began, pulling her hair away from her neck so as to finally be able to see again. She was choked up, unable to spit out the rest of the words, despite the fact that she very desperately wanted to.

Shizuru Viola was standing in front of her, wearing an odd sort of garb and a very bright smile. In the half-light of the ruins, she seemed to almost glow in a strange unearthly light that Natsuki could not place. Natsuki wondered for an instant if she was a hallucination – a trick of the dim light and an overtired brain.

And then, quite as suddenly as the traitorous thoughts had started, they stopped. Natsuki lurched foreword before a proper upbringing could stop her from this unsightly gesture of public affections and she was in Shizuru's arms, sobbing away all the fear and worry of the past weeks, "You came back."

Shizuru smiled, "I will always come back, Natsuki."

FIN

Author's Notes: There. It's done and over. I'm very satisfied as to the ending. I know that there are some questions about the outcome of the carnival starting and then restarting. It's odd, but I feel that it would just die down as quickly as it started. It does make sense, really. I guess.

It's been a fun ride.


	21. Post Mortem

**STOP.**

Before you read this, the epilogue to The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins, you should make a point of re-reading the story. I've done a rather extensive edit of the content and it is now completely finished and up to par with what I think a truly good story should be.

This is now the final copy of the story, so any and all mistakes are completely my own; but I must say that this has been a long time coming and I'm quite glad it's finished now.

Please note that I had no idea this would be so monstrous an undertaking. I just started pounding this out and now it's WAY over 5000 words. Sorry for the length, but this story's worth it.

So yeah. I realized that I left a lot more of this unexplained than I though I had. Therefore this is long. Very long. Sorry if you don't like it, this is the last chapter in the story, however. I think you can handle it.

* * *

**Post-Mortem, The Strange Affair of the Katsu Ruins**

_Windbloom __Public __University, __Wind __City__, Windbloom_

As far as anyone could tell, nothing had really changed that much since the departure of Fujino Shizuru from their world. Juliet Nao Zhang went back to school with a heavy heart all the same. That girl had somehow managed to place Nao in a mental state that could only be described as chaotic. She felt as though she was driven by something other than her own ambition to never have to go back to Altai in her lifetime.

As one of the Five Columns of Gaulderobe, she was allowed, for a time at least, to pick where she chose as her residence. She'd decided to stay in Windbloom to keep an eye on Kruger after the fallout of Viola's return.

She couldn't' believe what she'd attempted to do, taking Kruger away from the woman she loved above all others in the world. Nao had tried to pull Kruger away from her grief.

She had thought, at the time, that it was a good idea to pull her headmistress away from the temptation of what was a bad situation to begin with. Having a woman who was supposedly in charge of the largest military-based force in all of Earl suddenly lose her head to grief and whatever else came with the sensation of lost love was simply not an option. Nao had acted as she was supposed to, with Sara and Maya absent from the situation.

She had not expected Kruger to pull rank on her the way she had. _That_ didn't make sense to Nao, as the Kruger she knew would never risk angering one of her underlings with references to a home-kingdom that did not exist within the ranks of the Otome. There was no national identification until an Otome was aligned with a particular person of note – and then the Otome took the nationality of her Master, and never the other war around.

Still, Nao found the whole situation to be aggravating.

Kruger had started to fully isolate herself from her core staff since the end of the affair at the Katsu Ruins; retreating into her work and her relationship with Shizuru Viola as though they were the only things that mattered to her. Nao could not figure out why the Gakuenchou had changed in character, but she supposed that the idea of losing her lover again was simply too devastating to her for her to cope with anything else.

Nao felt the bile welling up in her throat at the idea of Natsuki, not _Kruger_ in particular being happy. She spat bitterly onto the ground and ground the fluid into the dusty sidewalk.

Why did she suddenly hate that idea?

Nao could not understand what was wrong with her. She had never been a particularly spiteful person, especially not when it came to her superiors. She liked a good deal of leisure time and to be left to her own devices; both of which were things that working for Natsuki Kruger virtually guaranteed her.

That damn girl had changed her. Nao knew it to be true, for she'd seen it in the others that had interacted with her. It was only a matter of time before things went back to what Nao would have called normal, and she could not wish it to come sooner.

Was it too much to want a personality back that she'd never thought to miss?

Nao tried not to storm too angrily back towards Gaulderobe as her GEM began to pulse in her ear. There was only one reason that she would be called back to the school, and that was bad news. She wondered what could have happened now to cause a panic. She'd never been called through the Surrogate System before, and the pulse told her that she was bound to be in for something interesting.

She touched her ear and shouted, "Materialize!"

The robe fell into place around her in such a way that Nao knew that something was up. The Shinsou would not make her robe so clearly feel the power fluctuations of running the robe system for the entirety of the school unless something was wrong.

Nao pushed off the ground and speed in the direction of Gaulderobe, a multitude of thoughts running through her mind – none of them good. She wanted nothing more than to know that she was going to be safe throughout this entire conflict, and that her family was going to be safe. The danger in running Doctor Helene's new Surrogate System was that it put all those who used it at risk.

What could be wrong with the Shinsou's soul to cause Kruger to need to use the system to begin with? Nao did not want to think of the crisis that could have caused that, but with everything and everyone changing Nao was not willing to risk hedging her bets on anyone or thing. She just didn't see the value in taking the risk anymore.

And there was an echo of something else, deep in the back of Nao's psyche, echoing whenever it seemed as though she was finally starting to move past the sudden onset of these new mannerisms and personality traits that she could barely define, let alone explain. Something that told her to run before it got bad, to strike quickly and then retreat back into the shadows once more. She knew that she had to be ready for what was to come. She had to steel herself to the prospect that she was most likely not going to survive what was bound to happen to her.

She touched down in front of the administration building and did not de-materialize her robe as she marched through the hallways towards Kruger's office. The Corals that were cleaning the hallway dodged around her as she moved past them, and Nao relished whatever control she could have over them – they were unimportant, expendable; like grunts in a bigger war that could never be truly understood.

Kruger's office door was ajar, and Nao could hear hushed voices inside. It was a school policy that closed doors meant privacy, and Kruger was trying to extend the invitation, Nao knew.

_Stupid of her, really_, Nao mused, pushing open the door and stepping into the room.

Kruger and Viola were standing off to one side as the cat-god that Nao and Kruger had met on their journey to the Black Valley paced the length of the room. Her staff was over one shoulder and Nao felt a sudden swell of friendliness that she had not felt in a long time. Suddenly, here was someone that she could both relate to and get along with.

She smiled.

"—there's no way that you can be right, Mikoto." That princess from Zipang, the one that Kruger had roomed with in school spoke far more loudly than she had to. There were now only five people in the room, shouting was really not necessary. "Even if you were right, how could it still be going on? She left."

The cat-god's eyes narrowed as she turned on her heel and began to march back towards the window.

Nao sighed quietly and let her robe fade back to her street clothes. She was still in her University dress, so she didn't have to worry about Kruger or Viola making comments on her 'extracurricular' activities.

"That doesn't mean _anything_ Mai. As Natsuki pointed out, the Shinsou System has been being problematic ever since Kai—_Fujino_ left. Her presence in this world has forced a series of events that were not due to start for a generation or two." The cat-god hung her head, turning once again to pace back towards Nao. "I don't know if we can stop it."

"How do you mean?" Kruger asked, looking generally concerned.

"The changes, in your personality, demeanor, everything about the way you do things should be obvious to you and everyone who knows you; Gakuenchou."

Nao frowned. Why did the cat-god always have to talk such sense? "If you're talking about Kruger's innate ability to be an ass, I have to say that I agree with you. It has gotten worse since that Fujino kid left."

Kruger shot Nao a very dirty look as she crossed her arms. "There is no way for us to know what's going on with our personalities; we're around each other far too much for us to notice it."

Nao didn't want to disagree with her, but the urge to insult; to hurt, and destroy Kruger was welling up inside her. She had to do it, and she didn't know why. She was terrified by the notion of insubordination to her direct superior, but she could not stop her mouth as the words spilled out of her mouth. "Perhaps_you_ do not notice it, Kruger, but it is very clear to me that you've withdrawn considerably since this whole mess began. I don't know what she did to you, but it couldn't have been good."

"Withdrawn from what?" Kruger demanded.

"From public life, Nao's right, Natsuki – you've been much more distant since this whole thing started." Nao supposed that Kruger's former roommate would know better than most how her former roommate's personality had changed, but it was the suddenly concerned look on the cat-god's face that caught Nao's attention. The black-haired girl-like-creature looked suddenly very concerned, her gaze intently flicking from Kruger to herself.

Nao squirmed under the scrutiny.

"We can't fight." Mikoto ground out eventually, her tone even, but Nao could tell that her teeth were clenched. "We can't fight again."

"Again?" The one silent person in the room finally spoke, her quietly accented voice cutting through the growing tension of the room and causing it to dissipate into nothingness. "What do you mean again?"

"Shizuru-" Kruger said quietly, turning to face her lover.

"I believe we have to know, Natsuki, we have to know everything." Nao knew that ever since Shizuru Viola had returned to Earl, she'd been far less of the blatant tease that she'd been before leaving. She had experienced something, Nao wasn't quite sure what, that had made her very much afraid of what might come to pass, should the world truly be changing the way that the cat-god was hinting that it might.

"What did Kuga tell you?" Nao not expected the cat-god to actually go through and have a conversation about what had happened in the world that Viola had found herself in. Nao had figured that it was simply supposed to be some big secret that she would never be let in on until it was written down for the official report – and even then, it would be skimpy on the details.

Who was Kuga? Nao had heard Fujino mention the name before, back when she'd first arrived, but it provided nothing concrete as to why Shizuru Viola would be of her acquaintance.

Viola looked slightly at a loss for words, but Mikoto smiled gently and moved to put a comforting hand on her arm. "You forget I was there, Viola-san. I do understand perhaps better than most what happened during that time."

"Well, Mikoto, she wasn't really much of a talker, it was really all actions and gestures. She tried to shoot me."

At the silence that followed her remark, Viola added, "Several times."

Nao cocked her head to one side, curiosity getting the better of her. She was pretty sure she knew, on some level, who this 'Kuga' was. She couldn't think of where she could have met this person, as Viola had met her in the 'other' world.

It was as though she _just_ knew who this person was.

"That's true, but I find the idea that she wouldn't tell you, of all people, what was going on hard to believe." The cat-god looked hard at the people in the room and nao could see that she was contemplating something. "She always had a weak spot for you, even at that time."

Nao frowned, "What would that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with it. Kuga-san would have most likely told Shizuru what was going on; the carnival and the death." The cat-god shook her head, "The chances that that could happen here escalated considerably when Kai-Fujino-san came here while that was going on."

What did that have to do with anything? Nao really wanted to know, but she didn't think she would get the answers that she wanted from the cat-god. There didn't seem to be much want of conversation on anyone's part, but the sentiment was the same. There was very little that could be done now. They had to wait and find out what would happen now.

Nao did not want to wait.

-

_Fuuka Gakuen, __Fuuka City, __Japan_

Natsuki did not know how to react, she'd had her heart ripped from her, and then given back to her in a gesture of kindness that she had come to not accept as coming easily in this world. They were at war with each other, but Natsuki knew that she would have to die in order for this conflict to end. Nao was dead, and Midori had agreed to sacrifice herself for a chance for Mai to get into the Obsidian Lord's underground complex. They were the only two left, the only two who needed to die. Sooner or later, someone would realize that killing Natsuki meant killing Shizuru, and vice versa.

Natsuki knew that she had to act quickly, before her chance to end everything on her own terms vanished before her eyes. She had Mai had realized that the game had been stacked from the beginning.

The Obsidian Lord had let it slip that it was always the Kagutsuchi users that gave him the most problems. Natsuki had determined that, given the body the entity chose for a host, he'd already picked who he wanted to have the last and final battle with.

Natsuki did not think that she or Shizuru could take out Mikoto. The middle-schooler was far too skilled at sword-craft for either of them at their prime to get past her.

They weren't at their prime. They were broken. Natsuki knew that when she'd lost Shizuru, it had been like the world had crumbled down around her. She'd become almost as mindless a killer as Shizuru had been _that_ night.

The night that Natsuki refused to think of.

This carnival of souls was not something that could simply be moved from one mental state to another. Natsuki found herself changing without Shizuru, and then _with_ Shizuru, but not with her. There was a subtle difference between the woman that had appeared in that old radio building and the Shizuru that Natsuki knew; and it scared her.

There was the person that Natsuki had known for years, but without the unhappiness of the carnival pressing down upon her. She was a proud, happy woman who'd wanted nothing more than the chance to finally go back to the world she loved so much.

They'd done that, and now Natsuki was stuck trying to pick up the pieces of her life before the actual conflict was over.

Perhaps she was moving too soon?

Natsuki knew that Shizuru would not carry on the carnival – she'd lost much of her will to fight. It was scary to watch those dead eyes come back to life with the honest and loving smile that Natsuki had desperately wanted to see for those long days when Shizuru had been missing.

The other Shizuru had not smiled the same way. Sure, the smile had been similar, but every time Natsuki found herself on the receiving end of the gesture, she'd felt her blood run cold. There was no way that she could have ever mistaken one for the other, and it was because of that honest assertion that Natsuki had finally done the one thing that she never thought she'd ever manage to do in her life.

She'd confessed her love, every uncertainty and hang-up to Shizuru; right there on the dirty floor of that horrible place. It was hours before she'd finished talking, and Natsuki had felt as raw as Shizuru had looked by the end of it all.

Natsuki had never been so open with someone in her life, but she felt as though she owed it to Shizuru to finally be honest with the both of them.

Duran had grown so big when she'd finally gotten the words out, filling the room and then some. Natsuki knew that depending on how you felt about that which was most precious to you in life, your child's size changed, but she'd never thought it could be so drastic.

Shizuru had given her a lazy smile at that point, "See, Natsuki? Even Duran thinks you should have admitted it sooner."

Natsuki smiled once again.

She stood outside of Shizuru's dorm room with her hand half-raised to knock. Her mind was racing, as she didn't really know what she was going to tell Shizuru.

She pushed the door open, forgoing the knock and stepped into the half-darkness of Shizuru's room.

It was almost cave-like in the room, and Natsuki guessed that Shizuru had fallen asleep with her humidifier on the night before, as the sensation of a misty summer morning seemed to cling to the room, even though it was cold and dry outside.

Natsuki slipped deeper into the silence of the room, allowing herself the indulgence of inhaling Shizuru's scent as she moved towards where the girl was most likely still sleeping.

She'd been doing that a lot recently, since her return. Natsuki was not sure if she should be concerned for the girl's wellbeing, considering how withdrawn she'd become since her disappearance. "Shizuru?" She called softly, peering through the gloom, looking for the girl.

The silence was almost deafening.

Shizuru wouldn't have gone out on her own, she couldn't have. Natsuki knew better than to have left her alone if that was going to be a problem.

Her bed was empty, and Natsuki felt her blood run cold.

Shizuru was gone.

_She promised!_ Natsuki's mind protested, frantically reviewing their previous conversations, trying to figure out where the kaichou could have gotten to. _She said she'd never leave again. _

_She was lying._ The thought ripped through Natsuki's consciousness faster than a bullet, for the realization hurt her a great deal. It was only through Shizuru's constant companionship and love that Natsuki had been able to slowly integrate herself back into a steady stream of human interactions.

_Was it all a lie?_ Natsuki did not think that Shizuru would ever lie to her; but the woman was nothing if not talented in the art of deception. Natsuki struggled to think of anything, a sign, a gesture, _anything_ that would hint as to where Shizuru would have gone. She needed sleep, to recover. They both needed to regroup before they played out their next move.

There was nothing, no sign that she'd been lying to Natsuki, no sign that she'd been planning on leaving. Yet again, there never was anything when it came to Shizuru. She had Natsuki wrapped around her little finger, exactly where she wanted Natsuki – exactly where Natsuki wanted to be.

Still, to give no sign at all as to what she was going to vanish without a trace once more terrified Natsuki.

She would not lose her again.

She closed her eyes and concentrated; her guns materialized as she yanked up the shade and pulled open the window. It felt good to have them back again, considering how long she'd gone without them. She'd been using regular pistols to defend herself for the past three weeks, since this whole business had really begun to heat up.

People like Nao and the entirety of the Searrs organization had a bad habit of getting under her skin in a way that made her judgment hard to predict; even for Natsuki herself. There was no telling how she would react to what had happened that rainy night, and with Nao, and then Yukino falling to Shizuru as though it had been nothing to defeat them.

_She doesn't know that Mikoto killed Nao._

Natsuki gripped her guns tighter and pushed her body out of the window as she did so.

The sensation of falling was neither unique nor new to her, but the rush she felt as she dropped was a sensation that she could never replace. "Duran!" She shouted, while mentally praying that Shizuru would not go after Nao's ghost; for Natsuki never wanted to think about the redhead again.

-

_Executive Offices, The Hexagon, __Aries __Republic_

President Yukino Chrysant leaned back in her chair and contemplated the mirror lying on the desk before her. She was uncomfortable having it out in the open, for she thought that it would be better to keep the evidence of her strange new ability as hidden as possible. She remembered things now, things that terrified her. The HiME were reawakening and she knew it. She was one of them.

Yukino had never really put much stock behind the legends of the Twelve Kingdoms War, but more and more events were beginning to filter into her memory. Times, places, and events that she had never been to, and yet she knew them. She remembered faces of her peers, yet they were different.

They were younger, perhaps. Yukino could not be sure.

The mirror's surface was cool to her touch, and she could not fathom how she was supposed to use it as a weapon as the legends and the paintings in the Katsu Ruins seemed to indicate. It didn't make sense for her to be given a weapon and then for it to be completely useless in combat.

She had bitter memories of its uselessness. She remembered glimpses, flashes of her own desperate attempts to keep someone close to her alive.

_Haruka_.

The spirit of the mistress of Diana smiled; _I guess some things really do transcend the ages._ It was nice to know that one thing was still the same in this twisted backward Earth.

The phone on her desk rang and she reached over the mirror lying on her desk to answer it. "President Chrysant." Yukino said in a business-like tone. Her voice felt hoarse, even though she'd used it just moments ago. She turned the mouthpiece of the phone away from her mouth and coughed, trying to rid herself of the sensation that there was a mass build-up of bile and phlegm in the back of her throat.

"Yukino? It's Kruger." The voice on the other end was sickeningly familiar. The spirit felt itself pushed down as the full force of Yukino Chrysant's personality came back to the front of the war for dominance inside of her head.

"What is it, Gakuenchou?" Yukino honestly thought that it would be at least a week or two before she heard from the head of Gaulderobe again. With the absolute chaos of the past few months, Yukino had guessed that Kruger would take advantage of one of the other Columns and take a well-earned vacation.

"We need you, and General Armitage to get to Wind as quickly as possible." Kruger sounded harassed and stressed, the spirit recognized the voice at that point.

_Natsuki?_

"Why?" Yukino had always done her best to remain as neutral as possible in potential international conflicts; the recent fiasco in Windbloom was the one exception in her memory where she'd actually defied her own personal rule and intervened in another country's affairs. "What's going on?"

"Mikoto's finally figured out what exactly it was that Fujino managed to change when she came here."

Yukino had not thought that the girl had changed much at all, but she was plagued by the sudden presence of that mirror, and the sensation that not all was right in the world. She knew that she had to fight for something, for some_one_, but she did not know who.

"What does this have to do with Aries?" Yukino mused out loud, completely forgetting that she was still connected to the Head of Gaulderobe over a secure line.

"It doesn't have anything to do with your nation; just you, Yukino." Kruger seemed to hesitate, before she added, "You're an old soul."

"A what?" Yukino could not keep the disbelief out of her voice as she said it. She'd always thought Natsuki Kruger to be a sensible person; not one to talk nonsense to anyone – certainly not to a head of a friendly state.

This was how alliances were lost.

"An old soul, look, Mikoto can explain it better, but basically there was this contest around the time of the Twelve Kingdoms War – eleven people died in that conflict, Mikoto was the only survivor." Kruger paused, as if listening to something on her end of the line, "Look, Fujino came from a time like that, and her presence in this world has started that conflict again. It's not supposed to be happening, and Mikoto thinks that she's found a way to stop the events before we all end up trying to kill each other."

_So it's started already, huh?_ The spirit was intrigued, but it knew better than to voice its opinion. If the conflict were to not actually have started yet, then it should not even be here.

_So why am I?_

The silence did little to assure either party of what was going to happen.

-

_East Woods, Fuuka Gakuen, __Fuuka City__, Japan_

Duran moved quickly through the woods, Natsuki on his back – they had to hurry, for already Natsuki could feel the burn of the HiME mark on her back. They were getting close; and the feeling of dread was growing in the pit of Natsuki's stomach.

There was the burn-out ruin of the church where the Sister had committed suicide, rather than keeping the burden on her sin. They were all sinners, and Natsuki found herself wishing that her way out of this insanity was as easy as the Nun's. She had her faith, where Natsuki only had one person.

Who was conveniently _not there_ right now.

Duran let out a low whine and Natsuki turned her attention back to him, she could tell that he, like her; was completely unused to his new size. It was strange to realize that this was all because of _her_, everything was because of her.

_Shizuru._

Natsuki could see the smoke rising from a distant battle. She'd told Mai to wait until she was positive that they would not stand in her way before confronting the Obsidian Lord, and she intended to give Mai her way into that battle.

Mai was the only one of them that had a chance at winning. Even Shizuru, if given the opportunity to face the dark entity, would not be able to stand up to him.

Mai had already lost everyone that was important to her; yet she still fought on. Natsuki admired her dedication, even if it was a bit self-serving.

"Where is she?" Natsuki demanded, her teeth clenched. She was alone in this part of the woods, and vulnerable to attack by the rogue agent of the Obsidian Lord or an Orphan. She didn't think that she was in the mental position to fight off either threat.

All Natsuki wanted to do was see her, to make sure that she was okay. She was thankful to not have to worry about Nao wandering in on them, simply by the virtue of the series of events that had lead to the death of the girl.

Shizuru had thrown her off a cliff, but that had just been the beginning. Natsuki had brushed over the details for Shizuru Viola, but the fact remained that it was all that Natsuki had been able to do to keep the two of them alive with Nao and the rogue Mikoto running wild through Fuuka Gakuen's grounds. That had been the most stressful week of her life; trying to protect the two of them and form a plan of action with Mai.

There was too much going on, and then Mikoto had killed Nao and come running to Mai, who couldn't really turn her out.

It was then that Natsuki had felt the burn on her HiME mark; the signal that finally life was going to start making sense again. She'd left before she did anything stupid to Mikoto for outright committing _murder_ and had pulled herself together for the possibility that she would have to see Shizuru once more.

They'd never had a chance to really _talk_ after what had happened between them. Yukino and the Executive Director had caught Shizuru doing something, Natsuki wasn't really even sure what, to her – and they had both paid dearly for it. Haruka with her life.

How could Shizuru have murdered so emotionlessly? She'd asked Shizuru Viola in a rare moment of truth if she thought that people could change for the better.

Natsuki was still fairly doubtful that they would, but Viola had seemed very certain that change often happens later in life. Wisdom, she said, came with age. You had to be old enough to truly understand your actions to be responsible for them.

_Are any of us really old enough to understand what we're doing, Viola?_ Natsuki thought bitterly, squinting through the growing dusk for any sign of her quarry.

A hulking purple mass could be seen against the horizon and Natsuki urged Duran to run even faster. If Kiyohime was out…

At the edge of the clearing, Natsuki realized that there was no battle going on. The gloom of twilight did little to illuminate the shadows, but it looked as though Shizuru was standing in the middle of the clearing, once again clad in that awful purple coat she'd returned in.

"Shizuru!" Natsuki called, jumping off Duran's back and heading into the clearing. The hulking mass of Kiyohime hissed lowly as she pushed forward, but she ignored the creature. He would not harm her, if he was anything like Duran – he understood better than she did who was important to her, and did everything in his power to protect them. "Shizuru!"

Shizuru turned, raising a hand in greeting, "Ah, Natsuki, I didn't think that you'd be so quick to find me." She looked a little sheepish, but not taken aback that Natsuki would simply ignore her rather blatant want to be alone.

Natsuki was used to wanting to be alone, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to actually be with someone, rather than alone with her thoughts. It didn't make any sense that that one person would then decide that they didn't want to see her any more. Natsuki refused to let her already full mind work around that thought, instead choosing to spit out the words that she'd been dreading all day, "I need to talk to you."

"You're here, aren't you?" Shizuru's tone was slightly flippant, but she moved across the clearing towards Natsuki, her pace slow. It was strange to see her in that coat, all purple and gold and regal. Natsuki though she looked like a western lord of old; not a properly-raised Japanese girl.

"I guess I am." Truth be told, Natsuki would rather have been anywhere but there.

"Then talk, Natsuki," Shizuru coaxed. "I've done so much talking in the past few days that a break from it would be nice."

Natsuki wanted to ask her what it was like in the other world, in Shizuru Viola's world, but she had not yet found the words or the time to do it. Theirs was a very emotional relationship, and it depended on the normalness of their interactions to convey the deep emotional bond between the two of them.

For one to be without the other was devastating.

"The director of the school, you know, that kid…" Natsuki began.

"Kazehana-san, right?"

"Yes. She's far more involved with this than we think – and she let it slip to Mai that the person who defeats the Obsidian Lord and ends the carnival gets one wish." Natsuki sighed, this was going to be hard to say. "Shizuru, Mai is the one who's supposed to win this thing. All the others are dead and neither of us is up to the fighting any more. We can't battle – not like this."

"What are you suggesting?" Shizuru asked, her tone cold. Natsuki knew that tone; it was the voice that Shizuru had adopted when speaking to Suzushiro. The tone of a better speaking to an obvious lesser-power. Natsuki hated it. "Tokiha would be a problem, but not a major one. I would do anything to protect you."

"I can't have you fight." Natsuki protested, "Not for me, not for you, not for anyone. We're not built for this shit."

"Are you saying that you don't think it's my place, Natsuki?" Shizuru gave a strange sort of half-laugh. It was a hiccupping sound that made the hair on the back of Natsuki's neck stand on end. She knew that Shizuru was baiting her to respond in a way that she would later regret.

She knew her well enough to avoid it, but the want to respond was very high.

"No, I'm not. I'm saying that none of us have any business fighting against this evil that we can't even hurt. The evil is within our own hearts and unless we want to kill every one of the other HiME, there's no way to get rid of it." Natsuki looked away from Shizuru, for the next words were painful to her, "Even in the end, the finally battle would come down to you and me, and I couldn't bear to lose you."

"Natsuki-"

"No, let me finish. We _saw_ the future, you met me and I met you – we know that this works out in the end; we get another chance at life – at love." Natsuki closed her eyes, "I would rather live in Shizuru Viola's world than this one right now."

"So would I, Natsuki, so would I."

"Forgive me," Natsuki said, leaning forward and kissing Shizuru on the lips, "Forgive me for what I'm about to ask."

Shizuru's voice was breathless, "Anything."

"I told Mai that I'd take you down, no matter what the cost, because I realized that I would go as well. That's all I want right now anyway, is to die and finally be happy – with you." Natsuki tried to screw her face up into something that looked both like a grin and reassuring; but at best it could only be called a grimace. This hurt her so much, to admit that she would rather die than have to face the end of this carnival. They'd both seen the future, they knew that they were given a chance at happiness that very few souls could be afforded.

Shizuru pulled Natsuki into a fiercely tight hug, "Would it hurt you if I said I'd like the same thing, Natsuki?"

Natsuki shook her head, she understood that they were of like mind, and that eased the troubled feeling in her heart somewhat – knowing that she had the ability to shape her own destiny – and that Shizuru was willing to go along with her scheme.

She loved the girl so much, all the signs pointed to it, and Natsuki was glad that'd finally managed to move past the initial awkwardness that had plagued their early interactions. Natsuki allowed herself to be washed over by the feeling of love and contentment, all the while pleading with herself not to call out to Duran and end this whole charade.

She smiled sadly at Shizuru and turned away from her; she could not face her when she did this. The clearing was still and silent as the two looming forms of Kiyohime and Duran prowled around the outskirts; protecting their masters and each other from harm. "Duran!" The wolf's head turned its attention back to Natsuki and she swallowed hard.

This was going to hurt, a lot.

"Load silver cartridge!"

What happened next was anyone's guess, as the world slowly faded into nothingness in the aftershocks of Duran's gunfire. Shizuru snuggled in closer to Natsuki and muttered, "I'm happy."

"I'm glad." Natsuki replied with a sad smile. "I love you.

"And I you, Natsuki."

-

_Gaulderobe, __Wind __City__, Windbloom_

The quiet of Gaulderobe's halls was hauntingly familiar to Nina Wang. She was used to the orderly school environment that allowed for growth and development of the young girls who would someday become the world's protectors. But this silence was different, it echoed in such a way that even the most confident person was terrified of what might happen to them, should they linger too long within these halls.

Nina was not sure why the silence had changed, but the fact that it had shook her to her core – she had to know why. There should not be any tension in the relationship between Gaulderobe and its students, and yet there was.

Nina remembered the chill she had felt when she'd seen that girl, the girl who'd also carried the power of the harmonium within her. The ability to kill, to murder senselessly, out of rage was not something that a person just acme about, but as Nina struggled to forget what had happened to her, she realized that she would never forget as long as that damned device existed in the bowels of Queen Mashiro's castle.

It had to be destroyed, that was why Nao had dragged her back here in the first place. Nao wanted that machine gone, she'd said as much in their conversations of the subject earlier that year, before this craziness had really gotten started.

Nina allowed her head to rest against the cool wood of the headmistress' office door before she worked up the courage to knock. Natsuki Kruger was a formidable Otome and not someone that she would want to offend on any level for fear of ruining her chances to someday finish her studies. She never wanted to be an Otome, for the Harmonium had killed that wish in her, but working as an Otome-trained bodyguard was one of the most lucrative fields available to young women in Altai at the moment. She knew better than to pass up a perfectly good opportunity.

Nao, it seemed had rubbed off on her.

Nina raised her hand and knocked sharply on the Headmistress' door. It was rare for it to not be at least cracked open – as the air did not circulate to this part of the administrative building that well.

"Enter." Called a voice from inside. It wasn't Kruger or Viola, but someone different.

Someone that Nina knew perhaps too well.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yes, she could face the creature that had taught Arika how to really master the Blue Sky Sapphire. She could do this.

"Please excuse my intrusion," She said quietly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She bowed, as was custom and respectful, and then glanced around the room. Kruger was sitting behind her desk, a stack of data print-outs on her desk and a very harassed look on her face. Viola stood behind her.

The orange-haired Otome that had accompanied Kruger's resistance force into Wind City stood in the corner of the room, her cat-god master and companion leaning against the wall next to her; munching happily on a roll of one sort or another.

Nao sat on the couch, across from one of the few people Nina had not expected to see while visiting Windbloom.

Yukino Chrysant and her Otome were both looking at her with a look of expectation that Nina had come to dread.

"Ah, Miss Wang." Kruger said, setting her papers down and looking at Nina with slightly cold green eyes. She folded her hands over her papers and did her best to look as severe as Miss Maria (without much success, but it was close enough for her to feel slightly intimidated). "We are in need of your assistance."

"Natsuki - " Nina glanced in the direction of the orange-haired woman in the corner. Why was she talking to the headmistress as though she had some sort of control over her? Nina was quite certain that no one had any control over the headmistress – not even her nearly-constant companion; Shizuru Viola had any ability to sway Kruger's opinion. "I think that you should be honest with her."

"I was getting to it." Kruger ground out.

Nina suddenly felt very out of place, caught in the middle of an argument that she was not a part of.

"Sure you were." Nao's voice picked up in the argument, and Nina felt like screaming. She hated it when people were fighting around her – it made her feel out of control and almost manic in her desperate attempts to right the argument around her.

"Look, Miss Wang," Kruger said. Nina wanted to scream for her to call her by her proper name. She did not want to be connected in any way to Sergey; she didn't think that she could handle dealing with the fact that he had been her father for much of her life. It just didn't equate in her brain. "Something has happened, since the woman that you met last week returned to where she came from. We need you to play a song on the Harmonium to stop-"

"No." Nina shut her eyes and shook her head. She would not do it again; she could not do it. That machine had stolen so much from her that she could believe that the woman who had rescued her from all that would ever _dare_ to ask for something like that from her. "I won't it."

"What did I tell you, Ku-Kruger?" Nina turned to stare at Nao, as did most of the room.

Nina guessed that she was missing something.

"What did you say, Nao?" Kruger demanded.

"I just said that she wasn't going to go along with your grand plan to make this better. You can't make this better." Nao looked helpless.

The orange-haired girl stepped forward, "She did say it, didn't she, Mikoto?"

"Kruger is Kuga, in one sense or another." The girl leaning against the wall muttered, before stepping forward.

She was very young looking, yet Nina could see something in her eyes that was ancient, older than the earth itself. The girl walked closer to Nina and sniffed her experimentally, "I'm very sorry that you got mixed up in the Harmonium, but in truth, I'm quite intrigued at the fact that you managed to get it up and running, despite all the safeguards I put on it."

Nina blinked, and the orange-haired girl shook her head, "Mikoto is over three hundred years old, Nina."

"What does this have to do with anything!?" A very loud and suddenly aggressive voice sounded from Nao's general direction. It seemed that General Armitage had finally lost her cool and was objecting to the fact that she had not been a part of the conversation up until to now, "She's just a little girl – she doesn't have the arbitrary-"

"_Ability, _Haruka," The president corrected, her voice sounding tired.

"Yes, that, she doesn't have the ability to handle _anything_ like what you're talking about."

"Well, Haruka onee-sama, what do _you_ propose we do?" The orange-haired girl shot back.

"I don't know, maybe if we ignore it, it will go away." General Armitage shrugged in an exaggerated motion.

Nina shook her head. She really had no idea what was going on anymore. Perhaps it was better that way.

-

_Six hours later._

_Catacombs, __Windbloom __Castle__, Wind__ City__, Windbloom_

They all went down together. The cat-god had had the idea of using the Harmonium to play a song of destruction. She'd managed to do it once before, long ago – but she no longer was a tangiable enough being on this particular level of existence to play the song herself.

Besides, it still affected her, whether she wanted it to or not.

The Harmonium was the one device that the entity, formerly known as Minagi Mikoto could think of to stop the process of the almost-viral progression of the carnival in its tracks. It had been created in an attempt to stop the glorified slaughter during the Twelve Kingdoms War, but it had never been used for anything but destruction. All that Mikoto wanted was a chance to live in this world, with the friends of her past, without the burden of potentially having to kill each other.

It wasn't a lot to ask, but somehow, Mikoto felt as though the fact that this many of the HiME's souls had been reborn into this particular period of time _meant_ something. Mikoto hated to think what it could mean.

The carnival was going to start again.

But not in this generation. It was too early.

Picking her way through the rubble behind General Armitage's brisk pace, Mikoto realized that she wasn't sure if she was fighting against the tide of emotions that came connected to the carnival, or if she genuinely wanted to help her new-found friends outside of the Black Valley.

She was torn between the two emotions, because she knew that both of them completely legitimate in her frame of mind.

She just couldn't bear the thought of losing everyone again.

"What do you propose to do?" Mai asked out of the corner of her mouth. She'd fallen back from walking with Kruger when the headmistress had gotten snappy with her. Mikoto found it amusing that Mai was completely unused to a snappy and bossy Natsuki – even with the change of location and upbringing for both of them. She couldn't really say anything to Mai, for as much as she loved the woman, Mikoto did not want to lose her over some petty insult.

"I don't know. Nina knows the song, she's played it once before. I just know how to channel it to where it needs to be." Mikoto explained, not meeting Mai's inquisitive gaze. She turned her attention once more to the ground ahead of her, for she did not want to face Mai with the potentially traitorous thoughts that were racing through her brain.

If this didn't work, then the spirits would simply assign a name and face to the missing souls of the contest and it would start anew.

_It can't happen._

The Harmonium was still working order, although it was damaged in the occupation of Windbloom by Nagi dai Altai the previous year. The large cavernous room that housed the instrument was now riddled with the marks of many battles, and rubble covered much of the available floor space.

Many slaves had been killed during that battle, but nothing remained of the mass slaughter of Otome, their support personnel and their enemies. Such was the nature of warfare against an entity that could only be thought of, never actually touched.

"What now?" General Armitage's tone was curt, but Mikoto could detect a hint of something else under the brisk attitude. A touch of worry, perhaps, or concern for all the parties involved in this potentially risky mission.

Mikoto walked over to where Nina Wang stood, and asked, "Are you ready?"

Nina shook her head, but Mikoto could tell that she was just resisting because of the fear of what she might do, if given the chance on the Harmonium.

"You have nothing to be afraid of." Mikoto said, taking the girl's hand and squeezing it reassuringly, "I'm here, and it's been my job for _centuries_ to guard the device. I'm sure that I can stop you, or it, before anything bad happens."

Nina swallowed, "Are you sure?"

Mikoto nodded, "Yup."

They stepped past Kruger, who was still scowling from something that Nao had said to her, and onto the steps of the Harmonium.

It lit up, a low tolling note filling the room as Mikoto moved towards the keys and took stock of what effects were pulled. They'd designed the Harmonium to act like a regular pipe-organ, and in doing so, they'd managed to channel its effects into several different tones. Mikoto pushed in several of the stops and pulled a few out, "The reason that the Harmonium had such a destructive impact the last time you used it was because no one bothered to make sure that it wouldn't be playing a song of death." She explained to Nina. "I've fixed it so that you should be able to play, and then direct the song where you want it to go."

Nina nodded; her face pale.

"Don't be afraid." Mikoto added.

Nina didn't say anything, and simply placed her fingers upon the keys. The song was slow and mournful. Mikoto remembered it well, for it was one that she had helped to write, all those years ago.

Slowly, the tension seemed to leave the room and the sense of panic and chaos left the room.

Mikoto sighed, _Not this time, you bastard._

The Obsidian Lord would not win this time. These people could shape their own destiny.

-

_Elsewhere_

"These things always work out, don't they?" The jester set his teacup down on its saucer and fixed the Queen of Hell with an icy stare.

"This time, yes, they did." She sipped her tea quietly, resigned to the fate that awaited both of their souls, now that the carnival had been won by another. "But it's a rare occurrence. We shouldn't take it for granted; I doubt it will happen again."

The jester laughed, "That's where you're wrong, my dear. The souls are always the same, and the outcome is always the same." He moved his arm in a wide sweeping arch over his head, "Even Kaichou-san managed to find her happy ending. I was a little scared there, for a minute, that she would be doomed to forever linger in a place between sanity and madness."

The Queen sighed, "We cannot predict the outcome of this game, I had no idea they would kill themselves to avoid the fight they were facing."

"They did it anyway."

"Perhaps that is what makes them strong."

The two stood at a crossroads between this world and the spirit world where the children of the carnival live. They were not of this world, for their souls were eternal. They could never die, like the HiME who fought the battle with the Orphans, and then each other; their souls were immortal.

"This is a horrid cycle of death and rebirth." The Queen of Hell remarked, crossing her arms and settling more comfortably into her wheelchair. Her legs were not working, still; she would have thought the rebirth would have been enough to mend them, but again she was painfully mistaken.

"Someone should try and end it."

"Who?"

"Perhaps the next time, someone will find the strength to let the dead stay dead and simply wish to end the carnival."

"I doubt it."

**REALLY FIN (I SWEARS)**

You all did want to know what had happened, so I wrote you a lot more of this story then I'd intended. Thank you for your continued encouragement and support throughout this year and a half of writing.


End file.
